We had a wonderful start to the week as we celebrated Tu B'Shevat together with a Tu B'Shevat Seder. The Wilbur and Mary Jean Cohen Religious and Cultural Center was full and everyone enjoyed the service, the celebration and the interesting selection of fruits!
As many of you know, we marked the one year anniversary of the Shalom Center for Elder Abuse Prevention on January 1, 2013. Elder abuse is an enormous problem in this country, with estimates as high as 5 million older adult experiencing abuse every year. Our shelter is a virtual shelter, which means that we can use any of our 162 Health Care beds to provide a crisis stabilization stay of 90 to 120 days to an elder in need. With the anniversary, we were able to generate quite a bit of media coverage and, in fact, a reporter from the Associated Press spent some time with us, including interviews with one of the victims we have served. The AP story has now run in more than 50 markets as well as (believe it or not!) Great Britain and Bulgaria! It has generated a lot of conversation, some opportunities to continue educating our community and some lovely donations from people in various parts of the country who read the story and were moved by it. In addition to financial support, one woman emailed me and offered to send non-specific cards and notes of cheer that we could distribute to abuse victims or any resident who needed a little note to brighten their day. Another individual contacted us and offered to send flowers or other items that we could place in the rooms of individuals who are shelter clients. It has been a remarkable outpouring of interest and support and we are grateful for all of the attention it focuses on this vital issue. Here is a link to the coverage if you would like to see it: Aging America: Elder Abuse.
We are all looking forward to next week and the grand opening of the new Cedar Village Rehabilitation Center at the Mayerson JCC. We will be offering outpatient physical therapy services for people of all ages and you don't have to be a JCC member to use this service. This is an exciting partnership for us with the JCC and we are very grateful for the support of The Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati, whose generosity has helped to make this possible. We will hold Grand Opening events on Wednesday, Feb 6 including tours of the new Center and a variety of free wellness activities. Come and join us for a balance assessment, to have your blood pressure checked, to chat with a dietitian or just to have some snacks and say hi. We'd love to see you there. The event will run from 9-11:30 am and 3:30-6:00 pm.
