14 | MARCH 14 • 2024 

see us,” Ashin said. “Being in 
the hospital over a holiday is 
the worst. Patients feel very 
alone and miss their families. 
They were so grateful for a 
visit and to receive our little 
turkey cupcakes.”
Each week, the experience 
is different. Patients are 
admitted and released. 
Mothers in the maternity 
ward are proud and happy 
to show off their new babies. 
For other patients, these 
visits are a regular highlight 
in a long hospitalization, and 
relationships are sometimes 
formed.
Many patients gratefully 
accept the offer of Shabbat 
candles and find comfort 
in them. One patient kept 
the candles “lit” during 
her entire hospitalization 
because they made her feel 
connected to God and to the 
Jewish community. 
On one memorable visit, 
Pichette visited intensive care 
and saw an elderly patient, 
eyes closed, hooked up to all 
different machines. 
“I walked over to him 
and said, ‘I just wanted to 
wish you a good Shabbos’ 
… and he started crying,” 
remembered Pichette. “His 
eyes were closed, but tears 
were rolling down his face 
and he kept saying ‘Someone 
here is Jewish, someone’s 
Jewish.”

SUPPORTIVE 
HOSPITAL TEAMS
This segment of Bikur 
Cholim of Detroit is 
successful thanks to the 
support of the hospitals and 
the Spiritual Care offices. 
Both Pichette and Ashin said 
Beaumont and Ascension are 
extremely accommodating 
and a pleasure to interact 

with. They wanted to ensure 
that all Jewish patients know 
that many local hospitals 
have Jewish chaplains, just 
ready and waiting to help 
them, as well as devoted and 
caring staff in the Spiritual 
Care departments. 
Those chaplains and staff 
think just as highly of the 
Bikur Cholim volunteers. 
“The volunteers are so 
sweet,” raved Amity Lovette, 
manager of 
Spiritual Care 
for Ascension. 
“They’re 
enthusiastic, 
passionate, caring 
and dedicated. 
They clearly love 
what they do. They even 
prayed for me when I had 
health stuff going on! Their 
visits make a tremendous 
difference to patients, who 
feel so out of sorts when 
they’re in the hospital.”
Rabbi Jeremy Yoskowitz is 
a staff chaplain and clinical 

ethicist at 
Corewell Health 
in Southeast 
Michigan, a 
position he has 
held on a full-
time or part-time 
basis since 2015.
“The Bikur 
Cholim volunteers are 
incredibly thoughtful and 
kind people who work hard 
to enhance the lives of our 
Jewish patients so they 
can observe Shabbat and 
chagim,” he said. “They’re 
here only to give. People love 
their visits.
“The volunteers are 
fulfilling the idea of walking 
in God’s ways. The Rabbi 
Hama bar Hanina teaches 
in the Talmud on Sotah 14a 
that this refers to acting in a 
way that emulates God. Just 
as our tradition teaches that 
God visited Abraham as he 
was sick, so, too, should we 
visit the sick.”
According to Yoskowitz, 

about 4-6% of patients at 
Corewell Health William 
Beaumont University 
Hospital in Royal Oak are 
Jewish. He shared that 
the hospital is working on 
expanding a kosher menu for 
their Jewish patients.
“As a chaplain, I see that 
many really need spiritual 
care, which, of course we’re 
happy to provide,” Yoskowitz 
said. “But others just need 
to feel acknowledged and 
remembered. 
“The fact that members of 
our community voluntarily 
walk through this huge 
hospital building, just to 
visit them … well, that’s just 
powerfully healing for them, 
on both a practical and 
spiritual level.” 

Bikur Cholim of Detroit is seeking 

more volunteers of any gender and 

any age to join the visitors program. 

They also hope to expand to other 

hospitals. To volunteer or for further 

information, email volunteers@

bikurcholimdetroit.com.

OUR COMMUNITY

Amity 
Lovette

Rabbi 
Jeremy 
Yoskowitz

continued from page 13

Volunteers Jeff Lazar, Sue Lazar, Sarah Wayntraub, 
Barbara Pichette, Deedee Berman, Tzipi Ashin and Iris Farhi