After suffering with Alzheimer’s for seven years, Gloria Kestenbaum’s father took a turn for the worse. Following a hip replacement at Maimonides Medical Center, he lapsed into unconsciousness on the operating table. For Kestenbaum and her family, the next step was fraught with uncertainty.
“As far as we were concerned he seemed to die on the operating table — even though he was still breathing,” she said. “We had been losing him over the years with Alzheimer’s and now he seemed to be truly gone. At the hospital their job is to keep you alive no matter what, and the people at the hospital were really lovely. But he could not stay in the hospital indeterminately.”
At the suggestion of Dr. Barbara Paris, director of geriatrics at Maimonides, the Kestenbaums decided on an option the family had never before considered: to transfer Gloria’s father to hospice care, through the Metropolitan Jewish Hospice.
Now, more patients than ever will be able to opt for Jewish end-of-life care, as Metropolitan Jewish Health System recently announced its acquisition of Jacob Perlow Hospice from Beth Israel Medical Center, as well as the Mollie and Jack Zicklin Jewish Hospice Residence in Riverdale, formerly run by the UJA-Federation of New York.
The merger makes the Metropolitan Jewish Hospice the largest hospice and palliative care program in New York State, as well as the largest Jewish hospice — and one of the only of its kind — in the region.
“The joining of two groundbreaking organizations will have an immediate effect on end-of-life care for all New Yorkers, especially for pediatric and clinically complex patients, as well as Jewish and Chinese patients who benefit from our truly unique, culturally specific, end-of-life programs,” said Barbara Hiney, executive vice president of the newly combined hospice and palliative organizationAfter suffering with Alzheimer’s for seven years, Gloria Kestenbaum’s father took a turn for the worse. Following a hip replacement at Maimonides Medical Center, he lapsed into unconsciousness on the operating table. For Kestenbaum and her family, the next step was fraught with uncertainty.
“As far as we were concerned he seemed to die on the operating table — even though he was still breathing,” she said. “We had been losing him over the years with Alzheimer’s and now he seemed to be truly gone. At the hospital their job is to keep you alive no matter what, and the people at the hospital were really lovely. But he could not stay in the hospital indeterminately.”
At the suggestion of Dr. Barbara Paris, director of geriatrics at Maimonides, the Kestenbaums decided on an option the family had never before considered: to transfer Gloria’s father to hospice care, through the Metropolitan Jewish Hospice.
Now, more patients than ever will be able to opt for Jewish end-of-life care, as Metropolitan Jewish Health System recently announced its acquisition of Jacob Perlow Hospice from Beth Israel Medical Center, as well as the Mollie and Jack Zicklin Jewish Hospice Residence in Riverdale, formerly run by the UJA-Federation of New York.
The merger makes the Metropolitan Jewish Hospice the largest hospice and palliative care program in New York State, as well as the largest Jewish hospice — and one of the only of its kind — in the region.
“The joining of two groundbreaking organizations will have an immediate effect on end-of-life care for all New Yorkers, especially for pediatric and clinically complex patients, as well as Jewish and Chinese patients who benefit from our truly unique, culturally specific, end-of-life programs,” said Barbara Hiney, executive vice president of the newly combined hospice and palliative organization. Continue reading…
