During the interactive Q&A discussion following my webinar last Sunday (see this link) , a question was raised about end of life care for Holocaust survivors and about grieving after the loss of a survivor parent. This is a tremendously important topic and I would like to make sure that you are aware of the incredible resource that there is available at Metropolitan Jewish Health System (MJHS) in NYC, where my friend and colleague Toby Weiss is the Director of Cultural Sensitivity and Jewish Programming for MJHS Hospice and Palliative Care.
I refer you here to her article in the online magazine Kavod : http://kavod.claimscon.org/2014/06/caring-for-holocaust-survivors-with-sensitivity-at-end-of-life-mjhs-hospice-and-palliative-care/
Another resource available is from a 6-part series for children of Holocaust survivors dealing with grief, following loss that Toby Weiss invited me to present. The link to the videorecordings of that series of webinars can be found by clicking on the image below.
For those of you who are still coping with the care of aging and ailing survivor parents, I will post soon a special segment.
Irit Felsen
Hi Irit,
Was glad to participate in Sunday’s talk. My father was admitted to MJHS hospice soon after that article was written in June of 2014.
There was a degree of sensitivity and care by the social worker and visiting rabbi.
We chose to move him back home however, grateful that was an option, as the removal from home to an alien environment was too taxing, and the setting too austere and lonely. It triggered too many horrific memories from the camps for him. Home was a better option in his case.
Dear Felice,
Thank you for the comment. I totally understand how difficult the end of life period can be, and hope you and your family have been able to find peace with the way you eased your father’s last
days.
I send you my warm regards, Irit