Non-profit Hebrew SeniorLife, Inc

During the aging process, seniors with health problems and their families often face anxiety, hopelessness, frustration, and/or isolation. According to the Journal of Pastoral Care & Counseling, a study of 118 severely-ill seniors found that those who sought support from chaplains were less depressed and rated their quality of life as higher than those who did not. Hebrew SeniorLife’s Chaplaincy Institute helps support the spiritual and religious lives of seniors, who face debilitating chronic diseases or suffer from dementia, and often require acute or rehabilitative care. The Institute provides clinical pastoral education training to rabbis, rabbinical students, and qualified healthcare professionals from the Greater Boston area and around the country. Students learn to help alleviate the emotional and spiritual burdens of Jewish seniors, to support families in making difficult end-of-life decisions, and t o help people find peace, meaning, and dignity amid the harsh realities of aging. Graduates of the Institute become skilled chaplains, rooted in Jewish theology and culture, who are ready to meet the needs of our nation’s growing senior population.

Hebrew SeniorLife was established in 1903, when a group of five individuals set out to create a home in Dorchester, MA and provide care to infirm Jewish seniors in Boston. At its original location in Dorchester, Hebrew SeniorLife welcomed its first 15 residents in 1905 and, in the early 1960s, the organization moved to its current location in Roslindale, MA. Hebrew SeniorLife is today recognized as one of the most innovative and comprehensive organizations for seniors in the nation. A nonsectarian affiliate of Harvard Medical School, Hebrew SeniorLife is New England’s largest nonprofit provider of senior housing, healthcare, research, and teaching, and the third largest nonprofit organization in Massachusetts, with over 2,400 employees.

Rooted in a heritage of honoring its elders, Hebrew SeniorLife promotes the independence of all seniors and strives to transform every aspect of the aging experience by: providing vibrant senior communities and a full spectrum of personalized, holistic healthcare; conducting influential research that continually advances the quality of life for seniors and informs public decision-making; and teaching the next generation of healthcare professionals in order to grow the ranks of geriatric care providers.

Hebrew SeniorLife includes community-based market-rate, affordable and supportive housing in Brookline, Randolph, and Revere, Massachusetts; long-term care and short-term post-acute recuperative care at the Hebrew Rehabilitation Center in Roslindale and in Dedham, Massachusetts; and two continuing care retirement communities: one in Canton, Massachusetts and its newest facility, NewBridge on the Charles, in Dedham. Hebrew SeniorLife also sponsors The Institute for Aging Research, an influential research and educational institute focused exclusively on scientific advancements in the study of aging. From its earliest days, Hebrew SeniorLife, known throughout the country as a preeminent provider in senior care, has maintained a steadfast commitment to improving the quality of life for seniors while ensuring them the utmost security and stability.

Since 1903, Hebrew SeniorLife’s mission has been to honor its elders by respecting and promoting their independence, spiritual vigor, and choice, and by recognizing that they are a resource to be cherished. As part of this mission, Hebrew SeniorLife accepts special responsibility for the frailest and neediest members of the community, who are most dependent on us for care. To sustain this organizational goal, Hebrew SeniorLife places a strong emphasis on providing quality educational and learning opportunities for those who most directly impact seniors with their care.

Hebrew SeniorLife’s Chaplaincy Institute focuses on providing emotional and spiritual support for older adults through Jewish pastoral care. Students of the program learn about a variety of topics related to aging, spirituality, Jewish approaches to pastoral care, and the spiritual needs of people of other religious traditions. To date, the Institute has trained over 60 students.

As the Institute continues to flourish, the need for more Jewish clinical pastoral education Supervisors remains critical to the success of the program. Supervisors undergo intensive instruction to become certified in training other chaplains. While there are approximately 600 clinical pastoral education Supervisors and 50 Clinical Pastoral Supervisory Education Programs nationally, there are currently only ten certified Jewish Supervisors and three active ACPE-certified Jewish chaplaincy training programs in America. As a result, a majority of Jewish students who are learning chaplaincy skills must do so through many existing programs rooted in Christian theology. Hebrew SeniorLife’s Chaplaincy Institute seeks support to increase its capacity to provide training to more chaplaincy students, and to train supervisors to provide quality pastoral care to more seniors throughout America.

Name of Organization:Hebrew SeniorLife, Inc
Number of Paid Staff:2,417 full-time, 1,143 part-time
Number of Volunteers:315
Total Organizational Expenses:$11,939,850
% of Organizational Overhead Expenses:35%

Of the three active ACPE-certified Jewish chaplaincy training programs in the country, Hebrew SeniorLife’s Chaplaincy Institute is the first and only with a specific focus on Geriatrics and is thus at the forefront of addressing the needs of an aging population of Baby Boomers. Led by Rabbi Sara Paasche-Orlow, director of Religious and Chaplaincy Services, and Reverend Mary Martha Thiel, director of Clinical Pastoral Education, the Institute integrates Rabbi Paasche-Orlow’s knowledge of Jewish learning and spirituality with Reverend Thiel’s expertise in Clinical Pastoral Education to create a curriculum that teaches rabbis, clergy, and other qualified healthcare professionals to fully respond to the religious, cultural, and spiritual needs of the mostly frail, predominantly Jewish patient population at Hebrew SeniorLife, in the Greater Boston community, and around the country.

By giving future community rabbis and hospital chaplains training in Jewish texts, practices, and theology, they will be better able to respond to the vital needs of seniors and allow the program to raise the national standard of Jewish geriatric chaplaincy. While many Jewish healthcare institutions and hospitals have lost their religious identity, the Hebrew SeniorLife Chaplaincy Institute is modeling a unique way to integrate Jewish spiritual care into a hospital’s clinical care practices to significantly improve patient and resident quality of life.

In recognition of its distinction, the Institute has received numerous accolades for local and national organizations. In 2008, the Chaplaincy Institute received the “Best New Program” award from the Association for Jewish Aging Services and Rabbi Paasche-Orlow was also a finalist for the “Compassionate Caregiver” award from the Kenneth B. Schwartz Center. The Chaplaincy Institute was also featured in the 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 issues of Slingshot: A Resource Guide to Jewish Innovation, highlighting the 50 most innovative nonprofits in North American Jewish life.

“[Hebrew SeniorLife’s] Clinical Pastoral Education program is one of the only ones of its kind in which Jewish, Christian, Muslim and Buddhist chaplaincy students and staff come together to learn, to question, to grapple, and to build bridges of understanding across different religions, generations, and cultural contexts. Through a rich offering of guest lecturers, text study, group reflections, written work, presentations, continuing education, and hands-on clinical visits with the folks who live on our site, our chaplaincy students get the highest standard of teaching in order to give the highest standard of care to each and every short or long-term resident at Hebrew SeniorLife. It is a standard of care each person deserves.” –Krysia Burnham, Former Hebrew SeniorLife Chaplaincy student

“The Clinical Pastoral Education students at Hebrew SeniorLife learn by doing. Both in class and working with the residents, students learn that the essence of spiritual care is listening and just paying attention, something that sounds simple--but it's not. Supporting Clinical Pastoral Education at Hebrew SeniorLife helps provide a very needed type of care to our grandparents, our parents and sooner than we can imagine--to us! Supporting these skilled and compassionate students brings hope and meaning to people who need attention and companionship. Jewish tradition places a premium on honoring our elders, on alleviating suffering and on sharing our stories--one generation to the next. Here's a way to honor that tradition keep that chain strong.”

Rabbi Susan Harris, Current Hebrew SeniorLife Chaplaincy Institute student

Elderly
Spirituality

There are a variety of opportunities for youth to get involved: Through its pastoral volunteering program, the Chaplaincy Institute provides training for a small group of high school students during their summer break. The Institute also welcomes musicians from throughout the community to come and practice their art among our senior population, either for a few people, or as a larger performance. Every Shabbat, the Institute relies on teen volunteers to help bring residents in wheel chairs to prayer services and also to help make the experience multigenerational. A certain number of youth work with our seniors every year in diverse roles as a service project leading up to their Bar or Bat Mitzvah.

Name:Rabbi Sara Paasche-Orlow
Title:Director of Religious and Chaplaincy Services
Address:1200 Centre Street
Telephone:(617) 363-8000
Email:spaasche-orlow@hsl.harvard.edu
Website:www.hebrewseniorlife.org

Temple Israel Natick General Operations	Because they contain: Elderly Spirituality
Shabbat and Holiday Dinners for students	Because they contain: Elderly Spirituality
Eden At Home's Apprentice Training	Because they contain: Elderly
Creative Summer in Israel	Because they contain: Spirituality


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Hebrew SeniorLife Chaplaincy Institute