Stories of Caring
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Little Heart, Big Miracle
Counselor, teacher, friend. All these roles MJHS pediatric home care nurse Aliza played when the Martinez family brought home their son Ashton, a tiny baby with a big heart problem.
Ashton spent the first three months of life in the hospital due to a blockage in his heart’s main artery. By three months, poor Ashton had undergone three operations, including the implantation of a brain shunt. His growth was delayed, and he was tinier than the stethoscopes so many doctors used on him.
When he finally came home, he required unusual attention. He still needed a feeding tube, and his blood pressure had to be watched carefully. “I was relieved to be home with him, hold him in my arms,” said his mother, Martina. But she was also scared. Providing Ashton with the proper care was daunting.
MJHS nurse Aliza took control, teaching Martina the signs of shunt malfunction and infection, showing her how to measure proper drug doses and how to use feeding tubes. As she educated her, she calmed her. Soon, Aliza was able to cut her visits from twice a week to once a month. It wasn’t just that Ashton was healthier. His mother was in control.
Martina calls Ashton’s recovery “a miracle.” But she is almost as stunned at the role she played in it, thanks to Aliza. “I don’t think I could have done it without her.”
Return to Home Care
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A Story of Love and Trust
Anthony and Ruth Casanova like to hold hands and enjoy Menorah’s breathtaking ocean views. But it is for the physical and emotional rehabilitation that they’ve come back—four times.
When Ruth, 82, first arrived after a hip replacement, she was in pain and couldn’t walk. By the time she left, “she actually walked a little faster than before surgery,” says daughter Linda. The physical and occupational therapy she received at Menorah let her resume dancing with her husband Anthony. “He was my present,” Ruth says serenely, when asked if he brought presents during visits.
Ruth returned to Menorah after a stroke in which she lost use of her left side, and much of her speech. She cries to recall it—but brightens quickly. The caring and expert staff at Menorah helped restore her speech, critical for a woman who loves bantering with her husband and 19 grand- and- great-grandchildren. She was able to regain use of her arm and walk with help, a huge improvement that required encouragement from the staff and unbelievable commitment from Ruth.
Ruth came back yet again after she broke her other hip.
Then: shock. It was her husband’s turn. Anthony broke a shoulder in a fall. Of course, he turned to Menorah for his rehabilitation. Seeing Anthony, a familiar member of the staff warmly said: “Hey, what are you doing here?” This time, Ruth took Anthony’s hand and comforted him as they watched the ocean together.
The Casanovas rely on two constants: their love for each other and their trust in Menorah Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing Care.
Return to Rehab & Nursing Centers
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Family, Comfort, Peace
This is Joseph, Jacob, Elizabeth, Nathaniel, Tabitha and their mom, Sharon. It’s a lovely family photo, but an abnormal one. To the left is the MJHS social worker who helped them do something no family should have to. She helped them cope with the fact that their son and brother, Jonathan, only nine years old, was dying of cancer.
The whole MJHS Hospice team played a critical role in helping all of them, Sharon says. The social worker, Khatima, brought in the MJHS Creative Arts Therapist. Matthew had the kids make puppets, thumbprints, and Jonathan’s favorite … trains. Via the art, he had them releasing feelings they shouldn’t bear alone, and holding on to feelings, like happiness, they should. He encouraged them to share their art with Jonathan when he grew too weak to participate, so he would remain engaged.
MJHS pediatric hospice nurse Wanda was another “blessing,” says Sharon. “She made sure everything was in place.” She fed Jonathan when he resisted. With a doctor’s aid, she kept him pain-free. Seeing he was “getting ready,” Wanda arranged for everything Jonathan needed so that Sharon could focus on her son. Sharon wanted all of the children to be together when the time came, so that Jonathan could die unafraid.
That is what happened. After five months of hospice, Jonathan died in his mother’s arms surrounded by the siblings he loved so much.
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Visit HospiceNYC.org for more information
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From Russia with Love
When the Froymoviches were courting, they walked daily through a European park, where fountains tossed celebratory mists into the air above them. Fifty years later, the duo still takes their special walks. But now they do it by the Atlantic…while benefiting from the added services of MJHS Adult Day Health Care.
Seaside jaunts are a main reason these two picked the Menorah campus of MJHS Adult Day Health Care located in Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn. Besides letting them relive the past, the walks are terrific therapy. Tai Chi and muscle coordination exercises are often held outside weather permitting.
But the Froymoviches are here for even more. “The staff is caring. And the programs!” exclaims Polya. She and husband Isak rattle off so many stimulating programs—from Russian poetry readings and Judaism talks to Name That Russian Tune contests, operas and pizza parties—they get flushed. It as if they are young again.
They left East Europe’s Moldava 30 years ago because most Jewish people were not allowed to enter university. Isak won 7 invention patents—yet couldn’t go to college. In America it changed. Their son and grandson have BAs. Both are computer whizzes.
And now, so is Izak. MJHS taught him to use computer programs and digital equipment. He now films, edits and scores day center activities.
The two resume listing favored MJHS programs: trips to the dolphinarium, Guggenheim, the King Tut exhibit; Club Memory. Both are “medically frail and need monitoring…but you would never know it,” says Adult Day Director Joyce Little.
Polya stands, flushed again. They are late for a famed Russian reporter’s political talk. “There’s just so much MJHS offers us,” the 76-year-old explains. She tugs at her 78-year-old husband’s sleeve and hurries off to class.
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