Under the Jacaranda Tree

Home / News & Events / Newsletter

Under the Jacaranda Tree: A Story of Love

Jan 31, 2023

By Glenda Hahn

Many lasting and loving relationships are formed at Los Angeles Jewish Health. During this season of love, we want to share this very special and touching story written by Glenda Hahn, the daughter of Mary Freeman.

My mom, Mary, came from a marriage that offered little by way of love or affection. We were led to believe my parents stayed together for the stability of their children.

When my father passed away in 1995, my mom felt like a bird let out of a cage. This was her opportunity to spread her wings and follow her dreams to emigrate from her native South Africa to join me and my family in the United States. My kind and generous husband offered her employment, and thus an avenue to support herself. Mary was independent, caught buses to wherever she wanted to go, made new friends, and created a great and happy life for herself.

When Mom eventually needed more assistance with daily living, we were fortunate to find an excellent facility for her: Los Angeles Jewish Health, formerly the Los Angeles Jewish Home. The slight resistance she initially gave us quickly dissipated when she realized this was a place for her to enjoy playing cards and bingo, learn the computer, and enjoy movies and other activities. She was social, made new friends, and soon realized she had come to the right place.

I’m not sure how Mary and Cyril first connected, but it could have been in discussion of the beautiful jacaranda tree that sat in the gardens of Eisenberg Village, located on one of the Los Angeles Jewish Health campuses. Coincidentally, Cy was also from South Africa, and the tree brought back memories for both of them of the beautiful trees, with their magnetic purple blooms, lining the streets of Johannesburg and Pretoria. The shade of this beautiful tree would later become their meeting place—a spot where they would sit, hand-in-hand, admiring the blossoms and reminiscing about life in the "old country." It was the start of a love story between two nonagenarian expats from South Africa.

Not only did the twosome discover they were from the same country; they came from small cities in close proximity to each other. In fact, Mary’s husband had gone to Cyril’s high school! Now, many decades later, they were sitting cuddled up in a place over 10,000 miles away.

Mary and Cy (as he was called) became known to the residents of Los Angeles Jewish Health as "a couple." They would spend their days in the Newman Lounge watching TV, or in front of the Newman building, where more often than not, at least one of them would doze off. They would reminisce about life in South Africa, talk about their children, and quote excerpts from Hamlet, which they had both studied in high school.

After some time, it became clear Mary required more care. The decision to move her to skilled nursing was a difficult one because separating her from her beau would be hard on both of them. Yet, the separation only brought them closer. With the exception of mealtime, Cy spent nearly every waking moment trekking over to the Max Factor Building to be with Mary.

It seemed nothing was going to keep these two apart…until COVID hit. Quarantine meant they would no longer be able to spend time together. For nearly eight months, they were separated by the virus. Would their relationship be able to weather this storm?

When the pandemic began to wane, Mary, whose memory and cognition had deteriorated, moved to the Goldenberg-Ziman Special Care Center. As it happened, Cy was also suffering from the early stages of dementia – and he, too, moved to the G-Z Building.

American poet Maya Angelou wrote, "Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope." Suddenly, the duo were together again, and the connection was still there. Both were hard of hearing, which made verbal communication difficult, but they had each other, their memories, and their mutual longing for South Africa and its beautiful jacaranda trees.

Mary passed away several months ago. This spring, as the jacaranda at Los Angeles Jewish Health begins to bloom, I’ll think with gratitude of my mother, and of Cy, and of the wonderful time they spent together.

Prev Page Next Page

Share

Sign up for the Los Angeles Jewish Health newsletter, Connections.

First Name

Last Name

Email

Recent Articles

Jun 3

Los Angeles Jewish Health Receives Prestigious Certification from the American Heart Association

As the largest single-source senior care provider in the area, Los Angeles Jewish Health is recognized as a distinguished leader in the field committed to making a positive difference in seniors’ lives. The American Heart Association (AHA) recently recognized the quality of care at Los Angeles Jewish Health by awarding the organization its Skilled Nursing Facility Heart Failure Certification. Fewer than 1 percent of nursing facilities nationwide hold this distinction.LAJH is one of the first Jewish facilities to receive this certification, and the first outside New York and New Jersey.“This prestigious recognition reflects the dedication of our healthcare team, who have provided exceptional care for more than 114 years since LAJH’s founding,” says Dale Surowitz, chief executive officer and president of LAJH. “As seniors live longer and their medical challenges grow in complexity, we are proud to be keeping pace, setting national standards for excellence in cardiac care, and in geriatric care more broadly, that are enabling seniors to make the most of their later years.”The certification provides an evidence-based framework for evaluating skilled nursing facilities against the AHA’s rigorous requirements for heart failure care including program management, patient and caregiver education and support, care coordination, clinical management, and clinical improvement.CHF Certification TeamNoah Marco, MD, CMD, LAJH’s chief medical officer, says the organization’s state-of-the-art heart failure management unit continues to demonstrate transformative approaches to care.“Twenty percent of heart failure patients admitted to the hospital are brought back to the hospital within 30 days of discharge. But our unit, by preserving patients’ independence, managing their multiple chronic conditions, and empowering those we serve to meet their goals, has a readmission rate of under 2%,” Dr. Marco says. “The AHA’s certification is a meaningful endorsement of our approach and our impact across Southern California.”Mark Taper Building Administrator Charlette Ofrecio notes that a wide range of factors drive the unit’s success, among them its focus on coordinated compassionate care.“Each of our residents in the unit benefits from a deeply collaborative team including a cardiologist who oversees the program and regularly reviews each resident’s clinical status with our interdisciplinary staff,” Ofrecio says. “Through the combined expertise of pharmacy, dietary, and nursing, along with innovative, noninvasive monitoring technology, we’re able to proactively manage heart failure and provide meaningful education to residents and families for success at home.”Dr. Marco says that, while an unplanned hospitalization is an extremely stressful event in the lives of older adults and their families, LAJH’s heart failure management unit can offer critical peace of mind.“Our staff have the knowledge and expertise necessary to address one of the most challenging chronic diseases that older adults can face,” he says. “Heart failure patients who come to us can rest assured that there is literally nowhere else in our community better equipped to provide the specialized care they need.”

New Sculpture Honors Beloved Los Angeles Jewish Health Donor

When Dr. Rosalyn Heyman passed away in 2021, Los Angeles Jewish Health (LAJH) lost a staunch supporter and dear friend. But she remained dedicated to the organization to the end, leaving a significant bequest to continue advancing its vital mission. To recognize Heyman’s generosity, LAJH commissioned a sculpture in her honor, unveiling the piece last month in a dedication ceremony that celebrated her enduring legacy.The sculpture, entitled “Tanya’s Gift,” is the work of noted local artist Jonathan Bickart, whose installations are on display at UCLA, Griffith Park, and other locations across Los Angeles. Featured prominently on LAJH’s Grancell Village campus between the Joyce Eisenberg-Keefer Medical Center, the Mark Taper Building, and the Schulman Medical Building, the sculpture depicts a young girl sitting atop a stack of books—a tribute to Heyman’s distinguished career as a pioneering figure in the L.A. education landscape.“Rosalyn was an amazing person who made an incredible impact on her community,” says Aaron Levinson, LAJH’s vice president for planned giving. “She started out as a teacher with the Los Angeles Unified School District, then became one of the district’s first female principals [of Berendo Junior High], and ultimately rose to serve as the district’s assistant superintendent of secondary education.”Levinson says Heyman’s stories of her time at LAUSD were larger than life.“Rosalyn was unbelievably bold and seriously funny,” he recalls. “She used to tell me she wanted to write her memoir and call it Bad Things I Did With Good Results. For instance, when she took over at Berendo, it was the worst-performing school in the district, and there was significant gang activity, with kids storing knives and guns in their lockers. One day, she started cracking down by opening up every locker and confiscating all the weapons. She knew she’d never get official permission to do it, but went ahead anyway, and when I asked her about whether she was worried she would get in trouble, she said, ‘What were the kids or their parents going to say to me: Someone came in and stole my gun?’ Her plan went off without a hitch, and she ended up turning the school around.”Heyman’s professional success was mirrored by her philanthropic achievements. She was involved with numerous charitable causes, but, says her friend and estate attorney, Chuck Tigerman, she had a special affection for Los Angeles Jewish Health.“Rosalyn was a devout agnostic, but she was culturally very Jewish, and proudly so. She lived for a time at Fountainview at Eisenberg Village, and later in her life, as her health deteriorated, she moved to the Joyce Eisenberg-Keefer Medical Center for skilled nursing assistance. She had the resources to go anywhere, but she chose LAJH,” Tigerman said.Following Heyman’s death, LAJH staff commissioned the sculpture in her honor, selecting Bickart and fellow artist Tanya Ragir for the work.“Tanya had a tragic ending because she received an unexpected brain cancer diagnosis, so she wasn’t able to do much on the sculpture, but I discussed it with her and showed her my progress until her death,” Bickart says. “When it was finished, we decided to name the sculpture ‘Tanya’s Gift’ in her memory.”Given Heyman’s passion for education and learning, Bickart incorporated space for a small lending library at the base of the statue, allowing passersby to leave a book for others or to take one for themselves. With a wink to Heyman, Bickart also gave one of the books in the sculpture itself the title she had selected for her own memoir, Bad Things I Did With Good Results.“The sculpture is really beautiful, but more importantly, it captures the spirit of a truly special person,” Levinson says. “We were truly fortunate to have Rosalyn Heyman in our orbit.”To learn more about making bequests to Los Angeles Jewish Health, contact Aaron Levinson at (818) 757-4416 or [email protected].

Los Angeles Jewish Health Earns Rare American Heart Association Certification for Excellence in Heart Failure Care

LAJH is among fewer than 1% of nursing facilities nationwide to earn this designation, and the first Jewish facility outside of NY or NJ LOS ANGELES – Los Angeles Jewish Health (LAJH) has received the American Heart Association’s Skilled Nursing Facility Heart Failure Certification, a distinction held by fewer than 1% of nursing facilities nationwide recognized for excellence in evidence-based heart failure care. LAJH is one of the first Jewish facilities to receive this certification, and the first outside of New York or New Jersey.LAJH is the largest single-source senior care provider in Los Angeles. Across the organization, LAJH serves more than 4,000 seniors each year, including those in skilled nursing facilities who receive 24/7 specialized heart failure care.The certification provides an evidence-based framework for evaluating skilled nursing facilities against the American Heart Association’s rigorous requirements for heart failure care, including program management, patient and caregiver education and support, care coordination, clinical management, and quality improvement.“This prestigious recognition reflects the dedication of our healthcare team, who have provided exceptional care for more than 114 years since LAJH’s founding,” said Dale Surowitz, Chief Executive Officer and President of Los Angeles Jewish Health. “Amid the challenge of a growing number of seniors, we are committed to delivering comprehensive care for all, rooted in our Jewish values.”“Participation in this certification benefits the patient and the facility by standardizing care practices,” said Cory Woods, DNP, MHA, MSN, RN, volunteer chair of the American Heart Association’s Quality Certification Business Management Committee and assistant chief clinical officer at Rockport Healthcare Services in Los Angeles. “When there are clear processes during every phase of care, patients have the best opportunity for positive outcomes.”Dr. Noah Marco, Chief Medical Officer of Los Angeles Jewish Health, added, “Patients with heart failure require specialized, closely coordinated support, and we are proud of the systems we’ve built to provide care that is both effective and compassionate. As our team helps seniors navigate a wide range of cardiac conditions, we continue to innovate and adopt best practices to strengthen patient outcomes. The AHA’s certification is a meaningful endorsement of our approach and our impact across Southern California.” ### Founded in 1912, Los Angeles Jewish Health (formerly Los Angeles Jewish Home) is the largest non-profit, single-source provider of comprehensive senior healthcare services in the Los Angeles area, serving nearly 4,000 people each year. At Los Angeles Jewish Health, thousands of seniors benefit from community-based and in-residence care and services. Programs include independent living; assisted living; senior behavioral health; short-term rehabilitation; skilled nursing; Brandman Centers for Senior Care PACE; and geriatric and memory care. Los Angeles Jewish Health is also home to the Annenberg School of Nursing.