Helping Hands for the Los Angeles Jewish Home
Helping Hands for the Los Angeles Jewish Home
The Los Angeles Jewish Home has always been able to count on its friends, supporters, and caring individuals and companies throughout the community who will step forward to provide support to its residents and staff. Never has this generosity been more apparent than during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the Home launched its "Helping Hands" campaign. More than 100 community leaders, members of the Home's board of directors, volunteers and community supporters have come together to provide the Home with both monetary and in-kind donations. Items donated included Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), including surgical and N95 masks, gloves and surgical gowns. The Home also received iPads allowing residents to visit with their families and other loved ones during this difficult time of required social distancing.
As community members reached out with their support, staff also took action volunteering to lend a helping hand. Director of Transportation Elisa Sosa stepped forward early in March, when it became apparent staff were in need of additional masks. She volunteered to spend her free time making cloth face coverings. Her initiative and hard work started a movement. Once members of the community learned that the Home was in serious need of additional face coverings, they called, offering to donate or create the cotton masks.
Elisa, who has worked at the Home since 2001 consistently does whatever she can to help the Home's staff and residents. "I want to help the community. I have learned a lot from the Home, and I want everyone here to be safe," she said. In her career at the Home, she has worked as a certified nursing assistant (CNA) as well as in the medical records area and at the Home's Levy-Kime Geriatric Community Clinic, before assuming her current role as Transportation Supervisor for Brandman Centers for Senior Care (BCSC). She went on to share, "The Home is a big family, and I want to help out however I can, as I want to take care of my family here – the residents and the staff."
Masks are not the only thing Elisa creates. She became aware that the Home was also in need of additional hospital gowns, as part of its "Helping Hands" campaign, an initiative to sew long sleeves on hospital gowns to help prolong the use of the gown while saving costs. She happily volunteered, sewing sleeves on hospital gowns to help aid the Home's residents.
Joining with Elisa, the Home now has a group of dedicated volunteers who are continuing to sew sleeves on to gowns. More than 30 women from various sewing groups across Los Angeles have sewn sleeves onto more than 3,000 gowns. Remarkable people helping a remarkable organization.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to surge throughout Los Angeles, the state and the country, the Home continues to battle the virus and protect its residents. The need for PPE continues to grow. If you are interested in becoming part of the Home's "Helping Hands" campaign, please contact Stacy Orbach, Director of Volunteer Services at 818.774.3116 or [email protected]
If you would like to donate new PPE to the Home or make a financial contribution, please contact Corey Slavin, Vice President of Community Engagement at 818.774.3031 or [email protected]