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| Community Budget Issue Requests - Tracking Id #885 |
| Central and Northern Palm Beach County Holocaust Survivors Assistance Program |
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| Requester: |
Neil Newstein, Executive Direc |
Organization: |
Alpert Jewish Family & Children's Service (AJFCS) |
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| Project Title: |
Central and Northern Palm Beach County Holocaust Survivors Assistance Program |
Date Submitted |
1/12/2006 5:07:43 PM |
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| Sponsors: |
Aronberg, Atwater |
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| Statewide Interest: |
| The most current demographic study available indicates that there are over 8,000 Holocaust Survivors in central and northern Palm Beach County. Currently, AJFCS provides needed core service (case management, friendly visiting, financial assistance, etc to over 178 survivors, but only 36 people receive limited home care services and at least 190 survivors need direct in-home care and case management services, which are not available to them as the current AJFCS program is at full-capacity. This project would allow Alpert Jewish Family & Children's Service (AJFCS) to offer additional, much needed services to the unique Holocaust Survivor population in the AJFCS service area. Ruth Rales Jewish Family Service already, our counter-part in Boca Rotan serves southern Palm Beach County. |
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| Recipient: |
Alpert Jewish Family & Children's Service |
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Contact: |
Neil Newstein, Executive Direc |
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4605 Community Drive |
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Contact Phone: |
(561) 684-1991 |
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West Palm Beach 33417 |
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Contact email: |
Newstein@jfcspb.org |
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| Counties: |
Palm Beach |
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| Gov't Entity: |
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Private Organization (Profit/Not for Profit): |
Yes |
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| Project Description: |
| According to the 2004 Jewish National Demographic Study, the average age of Holocaust survivors is 75 years. It is estimated that 4% of all Jewish elderly over 75 years of age are Holocaust Survivors, and approximately 15% of the total US survivor population live in south Florida. Survivors of the Holocaust tend to be extremely reticent about accessing formal services and are sensitive to being "identified" as in need of services. Institutions or Governmental entities that are perceived as the "authority" or as bureaucratic are avoided. Because of their war experience, survivors are afraid of being "labeled" and "registered" in any form and as a result, they often do not seek out help; preferring to remain "hidden" and invisible, until a major health or psychiatric crisis occurs. Accessing the traditional Aging Network services is often not an option for survivors. Survivors are literally terrified of being confined (having spent years fleeing in the forests of Europe, hiding or having experienced the trauma of slave labor, death or concentration camps. Being in a hospital or skilled nursing facility (even when unavoidable) exposes the survivor to a process of re-traumatization. It is our experience, that even highly functioning elders need assistance with their own aging process and the issues of disability, as any disability during the war meant sure death as a result of being murdered because of one's disability or because it was impossible to keep moving and hiding if one was ill or disabled. Triggers, such as hunger pangs, everyday sounds such as dogs barking, the noise of shoes down a hospital hallway, bathing, nightmares and certain smells can induce post traumatic symptoms and as such, survivors often need more support than their cohorts who have not had a Holocaust experience. The issues of aging are exacerbated for survivors, which identify them as a unique population in need of unique, skilled professional care. The aging process is a time of natural Life Review, which many survivors are unable engage, since the majority lost entire families or significant family members and are not capable of managing the intense emotional pain of Life Review. Holocaust survivors are most likely in need of more help than their counterparts who did not experience physical and mental torture. Because Holocaust survivors' median income is one-third that of the non-survivor population, they are less likely to be able to afford care for their additional needs. Within the current caseload, clients receive an average of 6 hours of home health care per week. This is about 50% of actual need. The services within home health care include assistance with bathing, light house cleaning, laundry, grocery shopping, meal preparation, transportation, managing medications, and assistance with daily living activities. Clients are assessed for care and services, based on the following functional capacity factors: dressing, grooming, bathing, eating, transferring - includes getting out of a bed or chair, walking/mobility, stair climbing, toileting, bladder/bowel control, client incontinence, ability to use telephone, shopping, transportation ability, preparation of meals, laundry, light housekeeping, heavy chores, taking medication, and managing money. These items are all from the Department of Elder Affairs Comprehensive Assessment Form, which is currently utilized by AJFCS for all senior services. Most of the Holocaust Survivor population does not receive government means tested assistance of any kind. Many do receive social security, Medicare and may also receive modest reparations. Reparations has re-kindled for most survivors a tremendous sense of loss and re-traumatization as they have had to list, in great detail their own experience, which includes detailed descriptions of dates and times and lists of family members who perished in order to "qualify" for reparations from various European Governments. Our experience has demonstrated that a fully-functional, highly mature survivor has been reduced to uncontrollable sobs and periods of up to 3-5 months of depressive episodes after working with professional staff (most applications are completed with professional staff for this reason and because negotiating the "system" is so intimidating for the majority of survivors) to obtain reparations. |
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| Is this a project related to a federal or state declared disaster? |
No |
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| Measurable Outcome Anticipated: |
| Alpert Jewish Family & Children's Service (AJFCS) is a nationally accredited organization and has a fully-functioning Continuous Quality Improvement Program. AJFCS has the capacity to measure the elders functional capacity over time, which is the primary outcome of an in-home direct care and case management program. - to ensure that elder individuals are not inappropriately "placed" in more costly settings, such as skilled nursing facilities or assisted living care(Med Waiver) because they are no longer able to maintain their independence. All units of service to Holocaust survivors can be tracked and unit cost analyzed. In addition, the agency utilizes the DOEA assessment tool and is able to measure impact of direct services provided. |
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| Amount requested from the State for this project this year: |
$100,000 |
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| Total cost of the project: |
$207,300 |
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| Request has been made to fund: |
Operations |
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| What type of match exists for this project? |
Private |
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Cash Amount |
$135,300 |
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In-kind Amount |
$72,000 |
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| Was this project previously funded by the state? |
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No |
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| Is future-year funding likely to be requested? |
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Yes |
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Amount: |
$100,000 |
To Fund: |
Operations |
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| Was this project included in an Agency's Budget Request? |
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No |
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| Was this project included in the Governor's Recommended Budget? |
No |
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| Is there a documented need for this project? |
Yes |
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Documentation: |
2000 National Jewish Demographic Study |
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| Was this project request heard before a publicly noticed meeting of a body of elected officials (municipal, county, or state)? |
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Yes |
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Hearing Body: |
Palm Beach County Legislative Delegation |
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Hearing Meeting Date: |
01/18/2006 |
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| Is this a water project as described in Section 403.885, Laws of Florida? |
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No |
