For many years, the Swampscott police and fire departments responded to public safety and medical emergencies at the Jewish Rehabilitation Center (JRC) in Swampscott. When the facility closed in September and the residents moved to the new Waldfogel Health Center on the Aviv campus in Peabody, it was a natural to offer items from the building to the police and fire departments that had served them so well.

“They have given us great service over the years,” said Marcos Stadler, director of environmental services for Aviv Centers for Living campus.

So far, the police have accepted the donation of a large screen and projector system they plan to use in the emergency operations center of the new police station when it opens this spring.

“This is equipment we need for the new station and we certainly appreciate the donation and the longstanding positive relationship over the years,” said Police Chief Ronald Madigan.

Stadler said the projector system, which was in the Rudolph-Shapiro Adult Day Health Center at the JRC, can be to be used with Powerpoint and other presentations, video games or for music.

Fire Chief Kevin Breen said they accepted the donation of some kitchen equipment including water filter systems and  coffee makers as well as some equipment to use in training situations such as white boards and office items. They identified other things such as files cabinets and furniture that they might take as well.

“We are thankful and we are going to miss Aviv. They were always great to work with,” Breen said.

When Nancy Milewska volunteered to feed elderly patients at Aviv Centers for Living, the director of human resources was trying to set an example for other volunteers.

However, she soon fell in love with the residents and through it, came to a deeper understanding of the value Aviv’s work.

Milewska is one of about 30 volunteers from the business and executive side of Aviv who stepped up to help serve meals and feed frail elders. The need for volunteers emerged when the Jewish Rehabilitation Center for the Aged in Swampscott closed in September and merged into the new Waldfogel Health Center on the campus of Aviv Centers for Living.

Instead of two large dining facilities at the former JRC, there are nine smaller dining rooms as part of the newer “household” model at Waldfogel. With more frail elders to feed at the same time, the staff needed to mobilize volunteers until they all grew accustomed to the new center.

Executives set the tone by volunteering, but soon found they were getting much more out of it than they expected.

“I think we get more out of it than the residents. I usually feed Helen Morris on the second floor and she barely eats but it’s such a nice feeling to watch her eat and drink and leaves me with a warm heart,” said Milewska.

A few days ago, Milewska was not having much luck getting Morris to eat tomato soup, pureed chicken salad or pears. But, Morris clearly enjoyed Milewska’s friendship and kept kissing her hands.

Stephen Neff, chief executive officer, explained that all the volunteers went through an eight-hour training. Though the need for volunteers has decreased since they are now more comfortable in the new facility, most volunteers are hooked and keep a regular schedule.

As employees who are largely involved in the business side of Aviv get into direct care, they all learn a little bit more about the company and gain respect for the staff that provides care in a warm and nurturing manner to a frail population.

“When you are on the business end, you get focused on your job, but when you get out onto the floors, you know you are working at the right place. When I see the residents and the nursing staff, that’s what its all about,” Milewska said.

Original article in Boston Globe North Section, Thursday, December 14, 2012. Written by Steven A. Rosenberg

See article on BostonGlobe.com

PEABODY — Even before Hanukkah began at sundown Saturday, there was already a lot of light on a quiet hill in Peabody. At Aviv Centers for Living, a Jewish-sponsored elderly complex where nearly 300 people live, reminders of the holiday of lights were everywhere.

“This is my second family,” said Ruth Silverman, 97, as she held a latke (potato pancake), and looked out at about 200 people gathered in a function room earlier that week. Silverman grew up in Mattapan and now lives at Aviv. She tapped her hand to the music, and then slowly began to smile. “This is wonderful.”

The event was called Latkepalooza, and served as a microcosm of Aviv’s intergenerational programming philosophy. In one room, the teen band Sababa played Israeli songs; in the adjacent chapel, rabbis offered a Torah class; in another classroom, children made menorahs. And in another room, Rabbi Nechemia Schusterman, who leads Chabad of Peabody, showed children and Aviv residents how to make oil from olives for a Hanukkah menorah.

“This shows how ancient activities are still relevant in today’s world,” Schusterman said.

Since 1945, Jews have played a role in taking care of the elderly on the North Shore. That year, the Jewish Convalescent Home opened in Lynn. In 1972, it moved to the Jewish Rehabilitation Center for Aged of the North Shore in Swampscott. In 1997, the community helped create the Woodbridge assisted living center in Peabody that is now the Aviv site.

‘It gives me a lift to be with the children. I feel like they help me out. It brings me back to the days when I was raising my children.’

In September, the Swampscott center closed, and its residents moved to a new $35 million building on the Peabody campus. The new structure interconnects with Woodbridge and offers everything from skilled nursing care and rehab to specialized services for people with memory loss.

At the sprawling 22-acre suburban campus, residents have numerous choices of programs each day, ranging from exercise classes to movies. But Aviv also serves the entire community, and in the process brings in people of all ages for classes, performances, and daily programs. Teens who attend the Robert I. Lappin Youth to Israel trip meet here; high school kids study Torah with rabbis. The Jewish Heritage Center, which documents the history of the Jews on the North Shore, has an office at Aviv.

Cantor Emil Berkovits also holds a study session every Friday before conducting a Sabbath service with residents. “We want to make sure these people are not forgotten, that there’s an outside world for them,” he said.

But, perhaps the centerpiece of the intergenerational mix is the North Suburban Jewish Community Center Early Childhood Program. The preschool, with its 58 children — ranging from infants to age 5 — moved to its new classrooms at Aviv in September. The full-time school, with a staff of 18, is based near the lobby that connects the campus and has built into its curriculum daily classes that include Aviv residents. Seniors read, sing, dance, exercise, and pray with children.

“It’s incredibly important that Aviv be a center for life, a center for learning, a center where elders and children can learn from each other,” said Stephen Neff, Aviv’s president and chief executive officer.

Last Friday, just before Hanukkah began, a group of residents gathered with the children to say a prayer while lighting the first candle of the holiday.

Ellie Noah, who is 69, held one of the candles as the kids sat around her.

“It gives me a lift to be with the children,” said Noah, formerly of Chelsea, who lives in Aviv’s assisted living building. Noah has two children and three grandchildren and volunteers a couple of times a week at the preschool, where she reads stories, plays games, and gives the kids snacks.

“I feel like they help me out. It brings me back to the days when I was raising my children. I feel very happy and content around the kids,” she said.

Susan Novak, the preschool’s director, said the placement of the school in the middle of an elderly residential complex helps kids develop sensitivity and respect for older adults.

“We told them this is our new family. We call them either ‘residents’ or our ‘new friends,’ ” said Novak, who has noticed how important the adults have become to the children. Already the kids and seniors have worked on several art and holiday projects. For Thanksgiving, they ate turkey together. And, on their own initiative, the kids decided to make as many holiday cards as they could this month for the residents.

Novak says that because of the intergenerational setting and programming, preschoolers have a better understanding of the process of aging.

Mary Freeman, a retired Salem teacher, called the need to be around younger people a natural desire. Freeman, who is 86, lives at Aviv with her husband and reads to the children every week.

“I love being with the little ones. They make you feel almost like a celebrity when you read to them,” she said. “They make you feel so welcome. They get up and clap when I walk in. when I leave they give me a hug. They’re like little dolls.

“I love their innocence. They tell you everything that’s happening in their lives and it has nothing to do with the story. And they can’t tell it fast enough. I get a lot out of it.”

By Amy Sessler Powell

Mary Freeman thought her days in the classroom had ended many years ago when she retired from the Salem school system. But, at age 87, Mrs. Freeman is back in the classroom, thanks to the intergenerational opportunities at the new Waldfogel Health Center at Aviv Centers for Living’s Peabody campus.

In September, the North Suburban Jewish Community Center opened its preschool inside Waldfogel, providing a vast array of opportunities for residents to interact with young children on a daily basis.

“They are so cute. They are just like little dolls,” said Mrs. Freeman, who read them a story about animals preparing for the winter. “I can’t remember the last time I was in the classroom.”

Mrs. Freeman and her husband, John, will be visiting the preschool every Tuesday to read to the children.

Ellen Gordon, community relations coordinator for Aviv said, “You can see what a wonderful teacher she must have been. She chats with the children and had a warm and loving way with them.”

The Aviv campus is organized so that residents have numerous opportunities to interact with the young preschool children and other community members who visit for the programs that occur there all week.

“That is Aviv. Mrs. Freeman working with the kids and the kids learning from her was absolutely what Aviv dreamed of when we incorporated the NSJCC Early Childhood Learning Center into the new building design” said Stephen H. Neff, Aviv’s President and Chief Executive Officer.

Some residents sit outside, weather permitting, and watch the children play while others enjoy watching from the large glass windows. The residents and children celebrate the Sabbath together each week and all their birthdays.

Mrs. Freeman is just the first of many residents who will visit the preschool on a regular basis to read and help in any way they can.

For more information or to explore volunteer opportunities, please visit www.avivliving.org

Our monthly health series is authored by Patrice Cahill – Fitness Manager at Aviv Centers for Living

As the fitness folks that I workout with already know (or I hope they do), working out has many benefits.  These benefits are not limited to more energy, better health, good and happy feelings; oh the list goes on and on….  Now, these benefits are certainly wonderful to have and even better to feel but there are times in the fitness lifestyle when we have to stop (just for a little while) and enjoy the fruits of our fitness labors.

This is what I like to call, “It’s time to stop and smell the roses”, or at this time of year, “Stop and smell the leaves”!  Now I don’t mean to lean down or pick up an autumn leaf and actually smell it!  What I am talking about is taking some time to enjoy all the beautiful things that this wonderful season brings!  By taking a break from the gym and instead walking or taking a ride to see the fall foliage, go to an apple orchard and enjoy fresh apples and the beauty and color of pumpkins is just what is recommended!

This fitness break isn’t (and shouldn’t be) for a long period of time but it simply means that since fitness folks (most likely) have worked very hard during this past year, fall brings a wonderful opportunity to enjoy nature with that same energy and happy feelings that you “earned” by working out so hard.  When people get into shape, they usually think that they have to keep it up without a break but I’m here to tell you that a break (a little one) is pretty much the right thing to do once in a while (not only does your body need it but your mind and spirit do as well).

The summer is gone (sad face) but the fall brings a multitude of opportunities to enjoy this beauty brought by “Mother Nature”.  The weather is usually cooler, normally there is little to no humidity and is pretty much picture perfect.  So this is, for most people, a wonderful time to get outside and take a stroll!  Feet, Cane or walker – anything goes as long as you get outside!

Remember, the colder months are not too far around the corner and that in itself brings its own share of situations that may or may not allow such easy access for walking or strolling.  So NOW is the time to get out there!  However, I do want to point out a few items that may make such a stroll tricky and even downright dangerous.  Leaves are beautiful, this is true. However, wet leaves on the ground can be very dangerous to walk on.  When you go out to see this foliage, please keep an eye on leaves that maybe wet or may cover up potential tripping hazards such as rocks, holes in the ground and anything that could be a hazard to your autumn stroll.

So just remember to wear the proper shoes, grab a coat or sweater, use any walking aid that you may have and get outside before the weather turns into a wonderland  – a winter wonderland that is!

Enjoy!
Patrice