Resettling thousands of frail, elderly refugees from the former Soviet Union is a delicate and arduous task that just got easier for a consortium of Bay Area Jewish agencies.
A federal grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement for $155,720 will seed the development of a network of services for Soviet emigres over age 65.
If renewed, the grant will provide $373,728 over three years to San Francisco’s Refugee Elder Care Collaborative, which includes Jewish Vocational and Career Counseling Service, the S.F.-based Jewish Family and Children’s Services, L’Chaim Senior Center and Mount Zion Health System’s Rosenberg Adult Day Health Center.
This is the first time this consortium has been awarded a direct grant from the Department of Health and Human Services.
Projected over three years, the grant will provide 60 more seniors with day care at JFCS’ L’Chaim Senior Center, provide 270 seniors with survival skills training, deliver bilingual workshops for 90 families with dependent frail elderly, hire new translators to help emigres with paperwork and train a pool of 60 Russian-speaking certified nurse assistants and home health aides.
Anita Friedman, executive director of JFCS, says the proposal accomplishes dual goals:
“It’s an economic development program which creates jobs for people who would otherwise have a difficult time being self-sufficient. And it couples [job-seekers] with elderly who need their assistance to retain their independence. We think that’s brilliant.
“Apparently, the Office of Refugee Resettlement in Washington thought so too. We’re thrilled they selected us,” Friedman says.
What’s more, the funding will help hundreds of elderly emigres prepare for citizenship exams, which will be necessary for receiving Supplemental Security Income benefits when the recently signed welfare reform bill is enacted early next year.
“This is even more important now in the light of welfare reform than when we submitted the grant,” says JVS executive director, Abby Snay. The new legislation will end SSI for legal immigrants. Only citizens will retain benefits.
According to Snay, that will just be another challenge for a growing population that is already strapped with health problems, unable to work and totally dependent on their families.
Figures from JFCS estimate 1,200 newcomers from the former Soviet Union will be arriving in San Francisco in 1997. Of those, some 20 percent will be over 65. Today, there are 25,000 Jewish refugees from the former Soviet Union in San Francisco, with an estimated 750 households supporting elderly relatives.
The Refugee Elder Care Collaborative will raise a total of $93,432 in private funds to meet cost-sharing requirements for the federal grant.
After the funding ends, says Friedman, “the community will be stronger and more capable of caring for its frail elderly.” The agencies hope to raise an additional $150,000 annually to maintain the programs as elderly refugees continue to pour into the Bay Area.