While Beth Sholom’s campus facilities were sold on July 1, 2023, the Board of Directors and CEO Morris “Mo” Funk want all to know they have not left the community and are working on new initiatives to serve Jewish seniors here.
Beth Sholom’s mission of servicing seniors continues in new ways as “reimagined” Beth Sholom.
Board Chair Janet Gale said, “Truly, we have not gone away. For the past year, we have been working steadily in a thoughtful way to study how to continue to contribute to the community in terms of quality senior-related care. We do not plan a bricks-and-mortar undertaken but want to support the original mission of Beth Sholom of providing quality-of-life care for older Jewish adults.”
Gale added, “Above all, we wanted to be diligent as we moved forward in responding to the current needs of seniors and explore new programs for seniors in their homes, in particular. We have been working with our community partners – JFS, the Jewish Community Federation of Richmond, the Weinstein JCC and Kirva Hospice, in particular.”
She continued, “Seniors, more and more, want to receive care in their homes. We recognize this. The new mindset for older adults is to remain at home much longer than in the past. We want to support this change in lifestyles.”
Avoiding duplication of services and programs that are working well was one of the goals of the team. “Relying on our community partners – JFS, the Federation and the JCC to guide us has been paramount,” she said.
The Beth Sholom team also wanted to know what is working well on the national level and see how to bring new programs to Richmond.
CEO Funk has many years of experience working with seniors and set out to explore innovative initiatives not in Richmond through many of his resources and long-term contacts.
Proceeds from the sale of the campus facilities will fund these new programs.
One of these initiatives is CAPABLE – (Community Aging in Place, Advancing Better Living for Elders). Working with JFS, this new Richmond initiative will be launched after the first of the year and will be funded by Beth Sholom.
Funk added, “Our reimagined mission has taken some time but we are pleased to be finalizing programs.”
He explained, “We wanted to focus on current Jewish community senior needs with new services. We have had a small board committee working on plans for a good part of the year. It was important to study the landscape both locally and nationally and that takes time. We cannot do everything but wanted to do our part in assisting Jewish seniors with support services.”
CAPABLE is a prime example of what he was looking for and learned more about it before bringing it to JFS through the Beth Sholom sub-committee and then the full board for approval.
“This will be a nice addition for JFS and I am glad we are bringing this national initiative to Richmond.”
JFS is pleased to be able to offer the program to seniors.
JFS CEO Wendy Kreuter noted, “We are excited to work with CAPABLE and implement a new program for our seniors in their homes. It was created by Johns Hopkins. The part of the program we will work with on CAPABLE is wonderful and well researched. It’s an excellent model for us to implement here. We expect to launch after the first of the year with clients.
According to the website, “It empowers older adults to live safely in their own homes by addressing the home environment and mobilizing the client’s existing strengths. CAPABLE begins with a series of visits over five months from a team that includes an occupational therapist, a registered nurse and a handy worker. The team uses motivational interviewing, active listening and coaching communication methods to enable the participant to develop, prioritize and achieve goals. Participants learn new skills and how to work with space modifications to improve function and safety. The program focuses on prevention and problem-solving, building skills that participants can use in the future and improving the client’s self-confidence to address challenges after the program is completed.”
Another initiative that Mo Funk and the Board have explored and are close to implementing is a comprehensive needs assessment and analysis.
“That engagement has started,” he said. “Specifically for Jewish seniors.”
The analysis also will look at what is going on nationally to help make decisions in Richmond.
The assessment will look at care givers, seniors and others. It will help Beth Sholom decide what’s best to offer and fund after studying.
“This is exciting.” he said. “To have a local piece and a national focus on our studies. And to bring something more innovative to Richmond is a real plus.”
There are two consulting groups involved – one locally and one nationally. The needs analysis will gather focus groups among local agencies – JFS, the Federation, the JCC, synagogues and others.
He said, “For example, we will talk with Rabbis to learn about the needs of senior synagogue members. We will try to assess all pieces in the community on senior-related issues.”
The assessment also will gather information from Jewish seniors at some area assisted living complexes.
“We want to help seniors connect socially, medically and other ways to live their lives safely and completely in their homes and other residences.”
He said the board also wants to see how Beth Sholom can help those who cannot afford certain services they need and desire. “How can they live longer in their homes before going to assisted living or other residences.”
“We hope the full needs analysis report will be ready by the end of this year to present to our board. The board will then make some strategic decisions on what to implement and support.”
More will be coming soon from the “reimagined” Beth Sholom.
