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Jewish Child and Family Service stepping up to meet the needs of the neediest members of our community in this extraordinarily difficult time
By BERNIE BELLAN
With the Corona virus enveloping the entire world, and with seniors being among the most vulnerable members of our community, the agency whose mandate it is to provide social services to seniors in our community has been thrust into the role as the primary source of contact for many seniors – and others who rely upon social support.
Rather than being able to provide in person counseling and other services to its clientele, however, the Jewish Child and Family Service is front and centre among Jewish organizations in this city that have had to improvise how it provides its normal services.
According to Al Benarroch, Executive Director of JCFS, various staff members of JCFS have been working strenuously to try and assist in “reducing the social isolation of seniors” and other clients of JCFS who are finding themselves not only psychologically and physically isolated from the community, but often desperately in need of such things as groceries and prescription drugs.
“We’re checking in by phone for sure,” Benarroch said, “and where possible – electronically”, i.e., by computer.
“All of our staff are set up with Zoom, so they’re able to set up virtual appointments that way…With seniors we want to make sure that we’re reducing their sense of isolation. We want to make sure that they have essential services provided to them – particularly food and medications.”
In terms of how many clients JCFS is actually serving at this excruciatingly difficult time, Benarroch explained: “We’re prioritizing those that are at the highest risk for isolation. That would be our elderly. We deal with about 425-450 households in that category alone. We’re talking about 600-800 people. In that group we include our Holocaust survivors, our newcomer seniors; we have many seniors that are living with mental health issues.”
Benarroch added that “We have a lot of mental health clients who live in isolation; many of them are younger and can get out. However, this whole pandemic is going to impact them emotionally – with their anxiety. We’re checking in on them regularly – with those electronic meetings.”
Asked what JCFS is able to do in particular with respect to providing food for shut-ins, Benarroch elaborated, saying that “What we are able to do is help coordinate, make sure that we have food delivered to them. As an example, we had a client this morning who said: ‘I’m more than capable of getting out. I have some mobility issues. I can get to the grocery store through handi-transit, but I need to get home – and they won’t wait.’
“So we were able to coordinate a taxi for them to get back home. We can do this on a case by case basis. In most cases we want to follow all of the protocols in insuring that people stay socially distant, where possible stay at home.
“We have a driver right now who’s taking orders from clients for groceries. We’re placing them on line. We’re arranging pick-up and we’re dropping them off in a no-contact drop off for them, and we’re working out an invoicing system where clients will be invoiced by the agency for reimbursement.
“Certain pharmacies are still delivering, certain grocery stores have actually added delivery as an option. We’re trying to take every precaution to make sure that everyone stays safe, but everyone has what they need.”
Benarroch also cited the JCFS’s child welfare program as another facet of the agency’s mandate to provide specific services that is receiving priority attention: “It’s interesting because it’s a legally mandated service to make sure children are safe in their homes or where they’re living – that is the one program that often requires direct contact. Again though, there are government protocols how you deal with that.”
I asked Benarroch whether “you’re fielding an increase in requests for help from people who ordinarily wouldn’t be contacting you?”
He replied: “It’s too early right now to tell. We’re preparing for it in terms of whether there are more financial needs for people, whether there are more requests for accessing – for getting vital services to them. That’s why we’re one agency that has not laid people off. It’s actually very interesting to see how much we’re able to do remotely. It’s quite amazing.”
Looking ahead, Benarroch predicted that “the clients who are on our caseload are going to be receiving more check-ins than when we did face to face.
“Once we get our Passover hampers out – which is happening over the next two weeks, we’re also planning to have our volunteer coordinators do more. We’re planning on doing more of a community response to isolated seniors so that (while now) they may get one or two calls a week – “at minimum,” he explained, “one call a week from their social worker – we’re hoping that they may get one or more calls a week from the same volunteer. That will be more of a social call: ‘Hi, how are you? Would you like to have a conversation about something in the newspaper? Tell me about when you were younger…’ – things that will keep people engaged.”
Asked whether JCFS has sufficient volunteers at the present time, Benarroch stated that “We’re fielding lots of requests. We have our core volunteers, but I think we’re a very giving community. I’ve been getting lots of requests: ‘What can I give? What can I do? Is there a way I can help?’
“You know, I’ve been fielding four or five emails a day – that’s just me, from individuals saying: ‘Al, is there anything we can do?’ I just got an email from Temple Shalom saying ‘Our congregation wants to do something. What can we do?’”
“The safest thing we can do is have people make phone calls, so we’re starting to coordinate those efforts.”
(Ed. note: A day after I conducted the interview with Al Bennaroch I was contacted by a representative of the Jewish Federation who informed me that the Federation is also now in the process of organizing volunteers who can call isolated members of the community. visit the Federation website.)
At that point in our conversation I digressed into something a little more esoteric, but given Al Benarroch’s own background as an observant Jew, I thought it would be somewhat interesting for him, which was to discuss how you could say kaddish if you aren’t part of a minyan. (For more on this turn to an article on page 20 .)
Benarroch noted that a recent rabbinical ordination came out from some of “the muckety muck Sephardic rabbis in Jerusalem that said for the purposes of the seder you can bring on your elderly loved one remotely – and use the computer – under certain circumstances, so you can Zoom them into a meeting – or use something like Facetime.”
I also noted that I had been emailing with Becky Chisick (executive director of the Gwen Secter Centre) about Meals on Wheels – but that I had discovered it’s quite a bit of a rigmarole to start getting them (at least a two week wait time).
Benarroch responded that “it’s not our program, but I commend Becky for stepping up some of those opportunities to do that,” adding that “Schmoozers is still providing meals. I have seen some people come in to the building and take out.”
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First year medical student Tim Rozovsky founds new association for local Jewish medical students
By MYRON LOVE In the face of a concerning surge in antisemitism over the past nearly three years, I am happy to report a good news story in that regard. Tim Rozovsky, the founder of the new Jewish Medical Students’ Association of Manitoba, reports that he and his fellow Jewish students enrolled in the University of Manitoba’s Max Rady College of Medicine are not experiencing any significant issues involving antisemitism.
Hopefully, the matter of the notorious Med school Valedictorian who used his podium to attack Israel was a one-off.
“My goal in forming the Jewish Medical Students’ Association of Manitoba,” says the first year medical student, “was to create a safe, supportive environment for my fellow Jewish medical students.”
He reports that the current first year class at the school has eight Jewish students – an increase over more recent years – with maybe a dozen more in the other years.
For a new medical student, Rozovsky already has an impressive resume. He was born in Russia and grew up in Israel. After the completion of his army service in 2018, the then-22-year-old rejoined his parents, Dr. Katya and Alexander, who had moved to Winnipeg a few years before.
Prior to coming to Winnipeg, Rozovsky had completed a personal trainer program out of The Academic College at Wingate in Jerusalem. Some readers may know the young man from his work as a Master Personal Trainer at the Rady JCC.
Shortly after arriving here, he enrolled in a kinesiology program at the University of Winnipeg. He graduated with a BKin Honours in 2023 and did post graduate work at the University of Manitoba. Last fall, he received his MSc in Physiology and Pathophysiology – earning two gold medals, along with 32 awards and scholarships in the process.
Rozovsky says that it was his mother who inspired him to pursue a career in medicine. Dr. Katya Rozovsky is an associate professor at the University of Manitoba and an attending radiologist, specializing in pediatric diagnostic imaging.
(Tim also adds that his wife, Irina Gelzin, whom he married about a year ago, is training to be a nurse.)
Insofar as the Jewish Medical Students’ Association of Manitoba is concerned, Rozovky reports that the group gets together multiple times a year. One of its programs was a joint Chanukah celebration with the Jewish Physicians Association of Manitoba.
There was also a joint program with the Christian Medical and Dental Students’ Association of Manitoba.
“More recently, we have been helping prospective Jewish medical students with their applications,” he says. “Hopefully we will be able to get together over the summer with the incoming Jewish students.”
As to his own future plans, Rozovsky notes that it is too early for him to be deciding on a specialty. “My goal,” he says, “is to work hard and get good grades and become the best doctor that I can be.”
Local News
Gray Academy to Represent Manitoba at National Reach for the Top Competition
By NOAH STRAUSS Posted June 6) Gray Academy’s Reach for the Top team is headed to Moncton, New Brunswick, to represent Manitoba at the National Reach for the Top tournament.
Reach for the Top is a Canadian school league that quizzes teenagers on a variety of different topics, from science and history to pop culture. Reach started out in 1961 in Vancouver, where a local CBC station broadcasted the new show; it eventually became a national broadcast starting in 1966. Alex Trebek, who famously hosted Jeopardy!, started out by hosting Reach for the Top.
Gray Academy’s very own team, made up of Grade 7 and 8 students, will travel to Moncton, New Brunswick, to compete as Team Manitoba. By winning the provincial Reach tournament, they secured their spot in the national competition.
Faculty members at Gray Academy are very supportive of the program. The Jewish Post spoke with three different staff members at the school. Coach and high school teacher Danielle Miller says she is excited for the trip; although she will not be accompanying the team herself, shehas coached them all year.
“This year we had over 20 students come to the club to join us, they practice twice a cycle at lunch,” Miller said. Due to the large turnout this year, two teams had to be formed. At lunch practices, students split into two teams of four where each player has a buzzer. The two teams compete to see who can answer the most questions correctly.
One of the two teams did exceptionally well at various tournaments throughout the year and will be traveling to nationals as the sole team representing Manitoba.
Co-coach Micah Doerksen described Reach as a great academic competition where young minds are tested on various topics through quick,fast-paced questions.
High school guidance counselor Lindsey Leipsic said, “We have athletes, non-athletes, we have students who are really involved and students who are not as involved at school, and we have quiet leaders, and we’ve seen friendships be built in Reach.” Some of her favorite memories of Reach involve seeing students from across Winnipeg come to Gray Academy and bond with one another. Lev Chisick, who is competing at nationals, agreed, saying, “Moncton is going to strengthen our school spirit and make us a better team.”
As the junior team makes their way to Moncton, the senior team will head to provincials. Later this week, students from the senior team will travel to Virden, Manitoba, to compete at the provincial level. The team qualified after placing high enough at their most recent tournament, which took place at St. Paul’s.
Confidence is high as the school heads into these final tournaments. When Nath Goldenberg, who is also competing at nationals, was asked what he is most looking forward to, his answer was short and sweet:“Winning.”
