Oscar Szmuch, Los Angeles Jewish Home resident and grandfather of Olympic gymnast Jade Carey is celebrating her Gold Medal Win in Tokyo for Floor Exercise. In commenting on the outstanding accomplishment Oscar shared, "I was on the phone with my best friend in Israel at 3:00am. He was watching the event live and giving me a moment by moment description of Jade’s performance and then all of the following competitors. As each one went and Jade was still first we got more excited and then her scores came up and he said, 'She won the gold!!!' I was so emotional, I was crying, he was crying. I called my daughter in Phoenix and we were all crying. Embed from Getty Images "We know the obstacles Jade had to overcome to win that medal and what an incredible human being she is. She is so kind, you saw on TV how she embraced each of her competitors. She is just a wonderful person." In case you missed last week’s feature on Oscar, and his amazing granddaughter, we are running it again below. As the Summer Olympics Kick Off in Tokyo, the Los Angeles Jewish Home Celebrates a Gold Medal Relationship Between a Championship Gymnast and Her Grandfather It's not every day you can draw a direct line from the Los Angeles Jewish Home to the Olympics—though we do pride ourselves on award-winning care. But, this year, an exciting connection will be on full display as world-class gymnast Jade Carey competes in Tokyo for Team USA, while her grandfather and his fellow Jewish Home residents cheer her on from the Jewish Home. Jade's grandfather, Eisenberg Village resident Oscar Szmuch, 78, is no stranger to athletic competitions. He represented the United States in the quadrennial Maccabiah Games in Israel as a marathon runner in 1989; in 2005, his daughter (Jade's mother, Orley Szmuch) competed there, as well. "We are the only father and daughter who have been in the games, and Orley was also coach of the U.S. women's gymnastics team for a competition in Argentina," Oscar says proudly. Born in Siberia, Oscar escaped Nazi-occupied Europe with his family and fled to Argentina, where he lived until making Aliyah (moving to Israel) in 1963. After serving in the Israeli army, he made his way to America, ultimately settling in Northridge, California, where he raised his family. "My wife and I had three daughters, and everyone has always been very athletic," Oscar says. "Orley was all-American at Florida University. One of her sisters was a very accomplished diver. I loved excelling at sports and have loved watching my girls surpass me even more." Oscar has been widowed for more than a decade. Five years ago, facing health challenges from multiple myeloma, he moved to the Jewish Home. "I was paralyzed and needed help. Now, I'm walking again. No more marathons for me—but I work out every day, and I've never given up pushing my body to do better!" he says. That same ethos of training and discipline has also propelled Oscar's granddaughter Jade to impressive heights of success. At 21, she is a global gymnastics superstar: On vault, she earned silver medals at the 2017 and 2019 world championships, and she was both the 2017 US national champion and the 2018 Pan American champion. On floor exercise, she won silver at the 2017 world championship and clinched the top spot at the 2018 Pan American games. "Jade was the first US woman to qualify for the Tokyo games, and when they were postponed last year because of the pandemic, it was really difficult for her," Oscar recalls. "Now, after all her hard work, I believe she will medal. Simone Biles is the only one who can beat her, and although Simone is the best ever, Jade has beaten her twice. I'm not bragging; it's a fact!" Although traveling to Japan to see Jade compete in person is not in the cards, Oscar won't be alone when he tunes in from the Jewish Home. "This is a great place to be because everybody really cares," he says. "From the nurses to the kitchen staff, they treat you like family." Watching his beloved granddaughter bask in the spotlight at the Olympics while surrounded by his Jewish Home family, for Oscar, is a combination that feels just like winning gold.

When it comes to offering high-quality senior care, the Los Angeles Jewish Home has a proven recipe for success. One of the central ingredients: our community of extraordinary volunteers, the people who selflessly give their time and energy to make this a place anyone would want to call home. Volunteers come to the Jewish Home with a broad range of interests and experiences. Yet, all of them share a passion for making life a little sweeter for the seniors we are privileged to serve. Longtime Tarzana resident Janet Edery had the Jewish Home on her radar for decades. She raised two kids as a single mom, and her son volunteered at the Home during high school. Today, at 71, she is now a volunteer herself, and says the care being offered is as exceptional as ever. "My mom moved into the Jewish Home in 2014, and I would go every day to visit. It was immediately clear how amazing the environment is: stimulating, well-staffed, and with such delicious food! I knew she was in good hands," she says. Later, after her mom passed away, Janet missed her daily interactions at the Home and decided to enroll as a volunteer. Until the start of the pandemic, she would spend one day each week bonding with skilled nursing residents—chatting, sharing a meal, and engaging in a wide range of activities. "I would do tai chi with the residents or attend weekend concerts with them. I grew particularly fond of one resident, a woman from Argentina; we would go salsa dancing," she recalls. "The residents are always so happy, and being there would fill me with joy." Once COVID-19 made on-site visits impossible, Janet's volunteer career at the Home was temporarily put on hold. But, with life reopening for people across Los Angeles, the Home is cautiously welcoming volunteers once again, while continuing to follow all of the latest health and safety regulations. This has allowed for Janet to resume supervising outdoor visits and reunions on Fridays. "I'm thrilled to be back," she says. "The Jewish Home is special, and I want to become a resident myself when I'm ready!" Whether they come from the community or from within one of the Jewish Home's own campuses, volunteers play a critical role in helping the Home run smoothly. Sandy Fine, a resident of Eisenberg Village, works in the Jewish Home's post office sorting mail. "I love what I do," she enthuses. "I know everybody's room number, and I learn their names. It's a wonderful way to meet people. The job is perfect for me!" Sandy, 84, arrived at the Jewish Home two years ago. "I was living in my own house in North Hollywood, where I'd been for 40 years, when I had an accident. I went into rehab at the Home and ended up staying," she says. For Sandy, her volunteer job is a way to remain physically and mentally active. "The post office helps keep my mind going, which is hugely important to me," she says. "I'm fortunate to be sharp, and I want to make sure I stay that way!" As a resident volunteer, Sandy has an inside perspective on what makes the Home so unique. "Where else can you be with a bunch of people who all love the same things you do?" she asks. "We've got our own havurah [group of friends] here. There's just no other place like the Jewish Home." Both Sandy and Janet enjoy their work, and they encourage new potential volunteers to join them. "We're a dedicated group, but there's a real need for even more of us," Janet says.To people who are interested, I'd say there's no time like the present!" To learn more about volunteer opportunities, contact Stacy Orbach, director of volunteer services, at (818) 774-3219 or [email protected].

Friday, May 7th was a picture perfect Southern California afternoon. The courtyard at Grancell Village was sun drenched—yet, as it was midafternoon, there was plenty of shade for those who preferred it. A similar scene was unfolding at Eisenberg Village. Then it happened. After a year of public health regulations, so important to keep everyone safe, there was finally a green light to, carefully and cautiously, hold the first outdoor Shabbat services at the Jewish Home for 2021. One by one, residents arrived, resolute in their commitment to celebrate the Shabbat in person and, with social distancing in place, among fellow residents. Thankfully, services never stopped at the Home. Even at the height of the pandemic, thanks to extraordinary measures taken by our spiritual care and information technology departments, virtual services were provided each week. But now, the excitement and gratitude of the people on both campuses that services could once again be held outside and together was palpable. Not only were residents delighted to be attending the service—there was pure joy in seeing one another. A staff member was stopped as she walked by, by a woman who requested she tug on the sleeve of another nearby resident to get her attention so that the two friends could safely reconnect prior to services starting. They told one another how great each looked. As everyone settled in at Grancell Village, Skirball Director of Spiritual Life Rabbi Karen Bender asked people to share what they were grateful for as they came out for the service. Person after person shared in clear, loud voices, they were grateful for the staff and the extraordinary care they received during this past year and the Jewish Home for being here to keep them safe. In addition, there were several who expressed special thanks to the Home's dedicated spiritual leaders. Special prayer books were printed for the residents. You could watch the aides dutifully help the residents follow along, turning the pages for them as they joined in the prayers and songs led by the rabbis. For those who could not attend in person, the service was livestreamed on the residents' televisions. For those who did attend in person at Grancell Village, they were treated to clear sound thanks to a generous donation for a new sound system from Jewish Home Board Chair Andrew Berman. They say it takes a village, and on a recent beautiful Friday afternoon, many came together to observe Shabbat and the special village that is the Los Angeles Jewish Home.

For more than two decades, the Los Angeles Jewish Home has hosted the annual World's Largest Mother's Day Celebration—a chance to honor our special mothers, grandmothers, and great grandmothers with special meals, festive music, and fun activities. Although the pandemic continues to require many modifications to events such as this one, the Mother's Day spirit is still alive and well at the Jewish Home, as families and Jewish Home staff and volunteers find innovative ways to mark the special occasion, not just on Mother's Day, but throughout the month of May. Under the direction of Mother's Day Celebration dynamic Chair Elizabeth Jacobs, the Home produced a tribute journal, featuring special ads and messages from residents' loved ones, distributed digitally to more than 15,000 people. Producing the journal was a big undertaking, but Elizabeth shared it was worth the hard work. "The Los Angeles Jewish Home holds a special place in my heart since my mother lived at Eisenberg Village and received extraordinary care," she says. "It is so very important to cherish and pay tribute to the special mothers in each of our lives. I was delighted to serve as chair of this year's celebration and to honor all of the beautiful women at the Home." This year's Mother's Day festivities at the Jewish Home will take place throughout the month of May during what the Home is calling "Mother's Day Month." Plans for the celebration include special meals, as well as various fun, safely distanced activities. In addition, on Mother's Day itself the Home distributed sweet gifts to show appreciation to all of the moms. These outpourings of affection have been made possible, in part, by generous Jewish Home donors and partners like Torrey Pines Bank, Presenting Title Sponsor of the Home's Mother's Day celebration. "On behalf of Torrey Pines Bank, we wish all mothers a very Happy Mother's Day," said Monika Suarez, managing director of public, nonprofit, and affordable housing finance at Western Alliance Bank. "The bank is proud to sponsor the Home's Mother's Day celebration once again. We are pleased to be able to give back to the community and to celebrate the mothers living at the Home." Families of Jewish Home residents, who have been accustomed to gathering at the Home for Mother's Day, have been supportive of this year's temporary shift away from in-person visits. "We know how hard it is on everyone unable to celebrate in person," says James Mackay, administrator of the Mark Taper building at the Jewish Home. "Public health regulations, space constraints, and the safety of our residents required us to come up with an alternative plan. We are tremendously grateful for everyone's patience and understanding, and we look forward to resuming our Mother's Day tradition next year. In the meantime, we anticipate safely accommodating more visitors as the regulations change in the coming weeks." No matter what form the holiday takes, the Jewish Home remains dedicated to helping residents feel seen and loved, notes Dale Surowitz, the Home's CEO and president. "Mother's Day is always a very special occasion here. This year, we have so much hope for a bright future. As we cautiously return to more normal routines, we want to make certain we celebrate all mothers, today and every day," he says. "Happy Mother's Day to all those here at the Home and throughout our community."

Throughout the pandemic, seniors at the Los Angeles Jewish Home kept busy with a broad range of engaging activities geared toward sparking engagement and joy during a challenging time. As we begin to turn the corner on the coronavirus, that list of activities is growing, the list of restrictions cautiously reducing, and residents are safely and slowly—but surely—preparing to enter a post-COVID-19 world. Many of the new offerings still take place remotely, enabling residents to interact while maintaining social distance to safeguard against risk of transmission of the virus. An example of this is a series of writing classes conducted over the phone and led by Annette Weinberg, the Jewish Home's lifestyle and enrichment director for residential care at Eisenberg Village. "We started with journal writing, which evolved into an eight-week course with an actual syllabus," Annette says. "The residents got so into it, and everyone did something to make it their own. We had someone keep a dream journal, someone else came up with the idea of a prayer/stream of consciousness journal, and yet another resident tracked her daily diet and exercise. One member of the class kept a legacy journal—something she planned to give to her grandchildren. No matter the topic, they were all creative and wonderful." Annette followed this initial effort up with a six-week creative writing course, then rolled out a class focused on more general writing skills. "This latest class doesn't have any homework. We do writing exercises together, whether it's working on poetry, Mad Libs, or humor," she explains. "The first week, I gave everybody the start of a sentence and asked them to finish it off with something unexpected. We had a blast!" In-person activities are also returning to the Jewish Home. "Sandy, our creative lifestyle and enrichment assistant, offers word games in person, as a small group activity (instead of on the phone, as it was offered these last months). And we now have a Spanish class and guitar lessons twice a week. Gloria, one of our talented lifestyle and enrichment employees, teaches both. So far, it's only a few people who are venturing out, but I think it's just the start of a return to normal, and we plan to increase our courses and activities over time," Annette says. "Stimulating our residents in this way helps keeps our brains firing on all cylinders." Residents are delighted with the new offerings. Linda Schomberg is one of those enrolled in the Spanish class. "It's a lot of fun, and what's great is that people are at different levels, so we can learn from each other," she says. Jerry Cohen has loved having a chance to jam on the guitar, and he attributes much of his success to the high level of instruction. "Gloria is an excellent—and patient—teacher," he explains. These classes take place in the Jewish Home's newly reopened arts and crafts room. According to Annette, having the opportunity to utilize the space once again has been a gamechanger. "It's been called ‘our happy place'—a spot where so many of our residents like to go and do their own, self-directed activities. For instance, we have a married couple who come in every day. He's a jewelry maker who creates beaded necklaces, and she knits. It's such a vibrant environment, and so thrilling after all these months of closure," she says. "Thank goodness!" In addition to expanding activities and opening venues, the Jewish Home also continues to bring entertainment directly to residents in the comfort of their own rooms. One example: for her Bat Mitzvah project at Stephen Wise Temple, local student Barbara Cotliar plans to sing for the seniors of the Jewish Home, and Annette will broadcast her performance over the Home's closed-circuit TV station. Barbara says her goal is to "lighten people's moods. This has been a hard year, and I know one of the hardest things my grandparents had to go through over quarantine was not seeing their grandchildren. My hope is the residents of the Jewish Home will feel happy after watching my performance—singing always cheers people up!" "Our residents love beautiful music like Barbara's, and we're so pleased to be able to share it with them," Annette says. "Whether it's through video content, activities on the phone, or in-person learning, we do our best to make sure residents can maximize their enjoyment every day."

Until recently, I never fully appreciated how eyes can smile. I knew that eyes could see. I even knew that eyes could connect, as when two people really pay attention to one another. Over this past year, eyes over masks that conveyed sadness and longing had been heavy for our hearts to bear. We all know this—we have been in it together. So you can imagine how exhilarating it has been, over these past few weeks, to witness smiling eyes. Family visitors smile with their eyes, staff smile with their eyes, and most importantly, our residents are smiling again, even if with their eyes. "Open my eyes that I may perceive the wonders of Your teaching," says the Psalmist (119:18). Learning in person, not only in some schools, but also here at the Home has resumed. Recently, I was teaching a class about Jewish views on justice. A resident became so excited as she shared her opinions and ideas that she started to pull down her mask. For a split second, I saw that she was wearing lipstick! Even though she wears a mask and we cannot typically see her smiling mouth, she could see her own lips. I reassured her, "You can keep your mask on. I can hear you with my ears and by looking at your eyes." Coming soon is the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, the holiday when we stand again at Mount Sinai, as it were, and joyfully accept the Torah and Ten Commandments as our ancestors did originally. In light of the upcoming holiday I want to share with you what I have seen and what I see now at our extraordinary Los Angeles Jewish Home. Remember at Passover, we used our imaginations to "remember" we were slaves in Egypt? We remembered that bitterness of slavery and the sense of longing to leave those terrible conditions. COVID-19 was a sort of Egypt for our residents, as their normal activities and freedoms were unavailable for their own safety. After Passover, we count the days to Shavuot. We continue in the realm of imagination. Sure, we were slaves, but now we are free. We have a purpose, to journey towards the promised land. And on that journey we stand together at Mount Sinai, connected with each other and with G-d, to receive the Torah. The eyes of joy that I see today remind me of the exhilaration of Mount Sinai. It is as if a light that had been a bit dimmed has begun to burn brighter, like the rays of light radiating above the eyes of Moses as he comes down the mountain to present the gift. Thank you to all of you who have given the gift of visits, support, and love of the Los Angeles Jewish Home. Those smiling eyes are in large part because of you. Rabbi Karen Bender

Yom HaShoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day, which took place on Thursday, April 8th, is an occasion for solemn contemplation. To reflect on the horrors of the campaign to kill millions of Jews and others is to acknowledge mankind’s ability to do evil. And yet, says Holocaust survivor and Los Angeles Jewish Home resident Joseph Neustadt, it is also a time for hope.Joseph Neustadt. Photo taken prior to COVID-19 pandemic. "When we talk about our memories of the war, we make sure that, when we die, the stories will stay alive—and that means we can stop the same thing from happening again" he says. Born in Latvia, Joseph, who is 93, still remembers his experience vividly. "In 1941, the Nazis killed most of the women and children in Riga (the Latvian capital); that’s when they took my mother and my sisters. But there was a small ghetto for working men, and I joined my father and my brother there. I was about 13 years old," he says. "Two years later, they liquidated the ghetto and sent us to Stutthof, a concentration camp in Germany." While they were in the camp, Joseph, his brother, and his dad noticed the Nazis would often look over the Jewish prisoners, sending some to the left and others to the right. During one such review, Joseph’s father was sent to the left—and Joseph never saw him again. As time dragged on, Joseph was shuttled off to various camps until his liberation in 1945—coincidentally, from a camp located in a town with the same name as his: Neustadt. "My brother died 13 days after the liberation, from typhus," he recalls. "That left me as the only survivor in my family." Joseph’s journey took him from Germany, to Holland, to Canada, and eventually to Los Angeles. He settled in West Hills, where he raised a family with his wife, Arlene, and worked for 30 years as an electrician at McDonnell Douglas. Today, Joseph, who is twice widowed, is happily settled in at the Jewish Home, where he has lived for the past four years. When he arrived at the Home, he found himself in the company of other survivors like fellow resident, 93 year-old Joshua Kaufman. Like Joseph, Joshua readily shares his story with all who will listen. A survivor of five concentration camps, including Auschwitz and Dachau, he often thinks back to what his fellow inmates would say to each other during their internment: "If you survive, don't let people forget what the Nazis did." Joshua has stayed true to his word. When he talks about his past, Joshua is instantly transported back to the day he was liberated in 1945. "I was at Dachau when General Eisenhower came. I saw him from 10 feet away. He was crying as he surveyed the camp, saying, 'If I hadn't seen all the skeletons, I would never have believed something like this could happen,'" Joshua remembers. From captivity in Germany, he went to Israel, eventually joining the Israeli army. His military career included deployment to the Suez Canal as well as service in the Six-Day War and 1973 Yom Kippur War. Later, in 1975, he took a trip to California with a friend and met the woman who would become his wife. "Margaret was so beautiful," Joshua says. "We fell in love after three days, and got married in two weeks, and I decided to stay in California." The couple are now both Jewish Home residents (Margaret for the past nine years; Joshua moved in this year), and Joshua continues to speak the truth of what he lived through in Europe all those years ago. "I believe in educating people—trying to raise this new generation and helping them understand what happened," he says. Education is also critically important to Frieda Thompson, another survivor who lives at the Jewish Home. For her, learning is a way to overcome the tragedy of the Holocaust and deny the Nazis the victory they sought.Frieda Thompson. Photo taken prior to COVID-19 pandemic. "Even after the Gestapo came and took my father to Buchenwald, my mother—who stayed with us—was very interested that my brothers still go to school," Frieda says. "When my older brother turned 14, my mother said, 'I want him to be bar mitzvahed before the Nazis take us,' and she made arrangements with the synagogue and the rabbi to have the ceremony. It says how much it meant to her that he become a bar mitzvah even during this time." To keep her parents' memory alive—and in defiance of the Nazi's Final Solution—Frieda decided to become a Bat Mitzvah herself at the Jewish Home. She is currently studying, preparing, and training for her upcoming Bat Mitzvah. "When I was young, women couldn't do it, but now I think it's a wonderful thing," she says. The Jewish Home honors and salutes Frieda, Joshua, and Joseph—and every Holocaust survivor here at the Home and beyond—for their incredible perseverance and for helping all of us make Yom HaShoah a day never to be forgotten.

Each April, organizations around the country celebrate National Volunteer Week, recognizing the hardworking people who give their time and energy to make a positive difference in their communities. Volunteers at the Los Angeles Jewish Home go above and beyond—and this year, we salute their service with particular gratitude for their efforts to keep our seniors safe and healthy during the pandemic. "On an annual basis, we typically benefit from approximately 500 volunteers," says Stacy Orbach, the Jewish Home's director of volunteer services. "In addition to individuals, we also receive volunteer assistance from school groups, synagogue and church groups, fraternities and sororities, summer camps, companies, and more. They represent a wide range of backgrounds and ages. It's so wonderful to see people come together to enrich our residents' lives." COVID-19 complicated volunteer work at the Jewish Home, but volunteers persevered. Although in-person visits to the Home were temporarily not allowed as a safety measure, volunteers found creative ways to keep giving back, letting residents know they had not been forgotten. "It's been a challenging time, and volunteers haven't been able to come on our campuses, but they've still 'shown up' in many amazing ways," Stacy says. "Volunteers collected special items that our residents love, including cute calendars and sweet treats, delivered them with love. When the quarantine began, and there was a need for masks and gowns, I posted our need on the websites of local sewing groups, and suddenly we had 50 or 60 people donating their talents and sending us homemade/sewn facemasks. The community of volunteer seamstresses also sewed thousands of sleeves onto hospital gowns as part of the Home's 'Gown Kit' campaign. We also have one volunteer who comes by every month to change residents' watch batteries, free of charge—she sets up a little workshop in her car." The volunteers' generosity, Stacy says, has been incredible. "One member of The Guardians support group works for an online flower company. She said she wanted to send us roses for Love and Friendship Day, which we celebrate every February 14th. I shared that in order for every resident to get one flower, we'd require 500 of them; she sent us 800 entire bouquets instead," she enthuses. "Our residents were overwhelmed with the kindness—it was so meaningful for them!" Stacy says she has been moved by all of the volunteers staying in touch. "I have volunteers emailing me and asking when they will be able to return to their volunteer positions with the residents. They're eager to resume the valuable work they do and to contribute to the well-being of our residents. They're also anxious to assist our staff, whom they know are putting in so many hours to make sure residents are well-cared for and happy," she says. Typically, during National Volunteer Week, the Jewish Home organizes an in-person volunteer appreciation lunch, complete with speeches from Jewish Home leadership, thanking the volunteers for their ongoing support. This year, Stacy says, will be different but no less heartfelt. "We still can't meet in person, but we want our volunteers to know how much we value them, so we're sending them certificates of acknowledgement along with 'Outstanding Volunteer' lapel pins," she says. "Once they're able to come back on campus, they'll be able to wear the pins proudly, and everyone will know what heroes they are!" The Jewish Home is always looking to expand our family of volunteers. To learn how to get involved, contact Stacy Orbach at [email protected].

In the best of times, providing world-class senior care and leading-edge health education is a tall order. During a global pandemic, the hurdles to success are even higher. Yet, the Los Angeles Jewish Home continues to rise to the challenge, gaining significant recognition for its outstanding work. Two of its most recent honors acknowledge the Jewish Home's dedication to excellence across multiple fields of endeavor. This month, the California chapter of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) selected the Jewish Home's Brandman Centers for Senior Care (BCSC), a Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE), as its 2021 Organization of the Year. This prestigious award will be conferred at the NASW-CA's annual conference, to be held virtually in October. "I could not be prouder of our social work team, who more than earned this great honor," says BCSC Executive Director Susie Fishenfeld. "It's a tremendous privilege to work with such dedicated and compassionate professionals. They do an outstanding job making a difference for our participants and their family members every single day." "Our program is community-based, so our approach to COVID had to reflect that," says Carolyn Quinn, BCSC's social work lead. "We kept our doors open throughout the pandemic to ensure participants had access to our clinics and therapies. It required incredible dedication, and a lot of smart and creative thinking, to make it happen, and I feel very fortunate to be surrounded by such amazing colleagues. They're really just the best people." That creative thinking required going above and beyond the normal role of a social worker. "At BCSC, we help make it safe for our seniors to remain in their homes," Susie notes. "During COVID, especially for the first several months, that meant working hard to meet participants' most basic needs—like, for those not able to travel into the center, bringing them food and basic items such as toilet paper so they wouldn't have to leave their homes." The social workers' responsibilities also included initiating challenging conversations. "Fifty percent of our participants have dementia. We reached out to their families and put plans in place for what would happen if their loved ones ended up in the hospital. It broke my team members' hearts to have to have those calls, but people appreciated the frankness, and I was so proud of my team's attitude, which was, "This is hard, but we're going to do whatever it takes for our participants and their families to be well," Carolyn says. The Brandman Centers for Senior Care is not the only Jewish Home organization earning accolades for high achievement. In July, the Annenberg School of Nursing made it onto the list of top three nursing schools in California, as ranked by practicalnursing.com. The ranking reflects data on first-time successful pass rates for the state licensing exam, overall student support services, and program elements more easily streamlining students toward achieving licensure. "Words cannot express my pride and gratitude for having reached this milestone, which is the result of the collective efforts and the continued leadership, drive, and commitment of our entire staff," says Amandeep Kaur, director of the Annenberg School. "I wish all of my colleagues a hearty congratulations." Over the past year, the need for qualified, expert nursing care has skyrocketed. Fortunately, Amandeep says, COVID-19 has not put a damper on the Annenberg School's meteoric rise. "Ensuring we are consistently following all public health guidelines, our LVN class remained full despite the pandemic, and we are thrilled to be in a position to be training new nurses during a time of such critical demand," she says. Among the factors driving such steady student enrollment: a focus on ongoing opportunities for real-world experience. "At this point, many nursing schools have turned to online clinical instruction, but we're still doing hands-on training to ensure our students are prepared for what's waiting out in the field," she says. The Jewish Home salutes the Brandman Centers for Senior Care and the Annenberg School on their impressive accomplishments. May they go from strength to strength!