Working against a 60-day deadline, Burstein signed up 160 survivors, often devoting 12 to 15 hours per day to registering, interviewing and assessing each candidate.
“It was exciting to set it up,” said Burstein. “I got to hear all their stories, some of which were very unique. There was one woman in Boro Park who was 103 years old. I can handle all this by myself,’ she said. ‘But my son can’t, so just give me someone for a few hours because my son could use the break.’”
Americare was careful in selecting staff for this particular program, which began serving clients in November 2011.
“We picked aides that would fit the program and taught them about survivors, kosher kitchens and Shabbos,” explained Burstein. “It all worked out very well and I would get calls every day from survivors’ children, thanking us because now they were able to spend quality time with their parents instead of taking care of their needs.”
Americare currently serves approximately 150 clients per year but is continually looking to expand the program and attract additional survivors.
“People say there are no survivors left but they’re wrong,” observed Burstein. “There is a waiting list and we whittle away at the list during the year, adding on as many people as we can.”
For Helen, a Manhattan Beach resident whose 83-year-old husband suffers from Alzheimer’s Disease, the Americare program is a godsend.
“They make a big difference,” said Helen. “Americare sent me a very nice lady. She helps me a lot and she is like my sister. Whatever I ask her to do she does. She is not like my right hand, she is like both my hands.”
Shoshana contacted Americare after seeing a flyer in her synagogue offering services to survivors.
“For two years I couldn’t get any help,” said Shoshana, whose had been the primary caretaker for her 89-year-old husband. “I had to have a knee replacement but I had to keep putting it off because I had to be healthy to take care of my husband. Right away, within two days, I had help and I have someone with me now for three years. I trust her with everything.”
In addition to sending aides to clients’ homes, social workers check up on clients twice a year.
“My social worker, Aliza Kelman, is like a gift to me,” said Shoshana. “She comes to my house, she knows me personally and she has been a lifesaver to me, putting her heart and herself into everything she does.”
“This Claims Conference funded program is another means of restitution to Holocaust survivors, in addition to the monthly pensions many of them receive,” added JCCCGI employee Aliza Kelman LMSW. “As the survivor generation is slowly becoming more needy and increasingly dependent on outside assistance to take care of their basic needs, Americare steps in to offer the much needed services and relief to this elderly clientele. The dedicated staff at Americare works hard to coordinate the services for the clients, based on the ever-changing needs of the individual survivors, from dementia patients who require constant supervision and personal care, to those who require basic housekeeping services. The clients know they can always reach out to Americare with any requests, and the program they have built up over the past few years provides a wonderful service to this still relatively large but slowly diminishing population. After all these survivors have been through in their lives, Americare understands what a unique and special population they are, and does all it can to provide the quality of life these clients so deserve.”
