Aid for the Elderly in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem

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1 Aid for the Elderly in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem September 2013

2 Background The inhabitants of the Christian Quarter in the Old City reside in one of the most crowded areas in Israel, and the majority of them are poor. Yet, this population is relatively educated and residents have worked all their lives. Most of the young leave the Old City, going off to university and other pursuits and not coming back. But the elderly Christians stay in the Quarter, in part because of the proximity to the churches, which function not only as religious centers, but also as community centers. Nonetheless, leaving their houses is quite difficult for them: many have numerous stairs without banisters; or tiny and low gates, which forces them to bend down and lose their balance, etc. In general, there is no handicapped accessibility around the Old City, nor are cars allowed entrance to most of the places. All of these circumstances discourage many from going out, so they tend to stay at home, even though they are technically mobile. The houses in this section of the Old City are very small 45 square meters on average - so small that there is no room for a washing machine or even a bathroom (which are typically located at the end of the corridor). The Center for Christian Elderly is part of the Jerusalem Municipality s Welfare Department. Thus, it is partly supported by the Israeli Ministry of Welfare. It serves mainly the Christian population form both the Christian and the Armenian Quarters. The Center offers three axes of activities: social and enrichment activities in the Center, activities for the homebound elderly, and art activities. Entrance to house in Christian Quarter Goals To properly provide services to this needy population, the Jerusalem Foundation has created a program that services this community. The program has 2 main goals: Reduce the loneliness in which many elderly live, providing a direct response to their specific needs; Succeed in taking them out of their homes and promote communal life. Target Population Almost half of the elderly Christians in the Old City and its neighboring area, the Wadi Al- Joz neighborhood of east Jerusalem, are registered with the Social Welfare Bureau and are in need of more assistance than the government offers. There are nearly 900 elderly residents in the Old City and Wadi Joz who are recognized by the municipal welfare

3 department. A full 400 of these social welfare cases (45%) are homebound, most of them widows. The poverty in which they live has a functional implication, such as not being able to pay for the electricity which could enable them to use a fan in the hot summers and a heater during the cold Jerusalem winters. Today the Center provides its services to 160 elders per month. These include: 70 who arrive for weekly and monthly activities, and drop in to gather practical information or share their thoughts with the social workers; 90 homebound elderly who are visited on a regular basis. At the Center, all receive and provide equal services, whether they are Christian or Muslim, and all feel equally at home. Program Description Two social workers operate the Center. One, the director, is Muslim, while the second is Christian. The second social worker is in charge of the homebound elderly, keeping continuous contact with them. In fact, it was the social workers there who first recognized the need to help homebound elderly. The project includes 3 elements: 1. Activities at the Center for Christian Elderly s Facility in the Christian Quarter The Center for Christian Elderly offers a number of activities, which enable the mobile elderly to leave their homes and receive all the benefits of social gatherings and other services that it provides. In addition, social workers are regularly on hand to recognize the needs of the elders, to notice if an elder who used to come is not coming anymore and try to find out why, etc. The activities given at the Center include: Cup of Coffee Project - Meetings once a month with the elderly, men and women separately. The goal of the meetings is to give them aid with bureaucracy needs, enhance their knowledge of their social rights, talk about issues which are interesting for them and provide general social contact. Recently a committee formed by the elderly has taken responsibility for the meetings. Social Club - a wide range of activities, including celebrating the Christian religious festivities, and more: o Computer social media skills. Weekly classes for 16 elderly. They learn how Inside the Center

4 to use Skype, and Facebook, thus reducing the intergenerational gap and allowing them to communicate with their families, which in many cases are living abroad. Each elder comes with its own laptop. o Bible lessons. Once a week, there are 15 Christian elders coming to study the Bible along with 2 other Muslims. o Arts and Crafts. A weekly class for 7 elderly. The class is more like a therapy, doing all kinds of crafts such as recycling, papier mache, etc. o Hebrew lessons. Once a week, with 15 students who are separated in two different levels of study. o Neighborhood Emergency Alarm Response System, a project of the Ministry of Welfare. The elders receive an alarm mechanism to put on their wrists to call for help in case of emergency. 2. Social and General Assistance Homebound Project There are around 90 homebound elderly, some of whom have not been able to leave their houses for 9 years. The project is conducted by one project social worker. Since the program began in 2010 she has worked with a total of 45 elderly per year, around 20 elderly per month. The staff visits with residents, reads to them, converses with them over a cup of coffee, and plays board games and memory games with them. Many of the elderly are mobile and are fully functional within the home, but conditions outside the home discourage them from leaving. In these cases, the counselors encourage residents to leave their homes and participate in neighborhood activities, such as the Center for Christian Elderly or other local senior citizen clubs, visits to family and friends in the neighborhood, to church and mosque services, and more. The social worker to visits the homebound elderly also specializes in treating with the Reiki alternative therapy. Reiki is a Japanese technique for stress reduction and relaxation that also promotes healing. Thus, through Reiki treatments, some of the elderly s everyday functioning improved. One woman, with knee problems, Example of stepped road in Old City, difficult for elderly to navigate used to lie down or sit most of the time. Reiki therapy, coupled with massages, helped her to be able to walk around her house with a cane. A second man used to not be able to move his hand. This treatment helped him to be able to dress himself and eat by himself again, enabling him to become more independent. In addition to the counselor, there are 12 volunteers working in the Center and in the houses, all of them from Jerusalem (both Christians and Muslims) except one Dutch volunteer, who has been in charge of doing the elderly s laundry for 22 years. The volunteers generally accompany the elders to medical visits, open and close the Center, and further assist in the operation of the Center.

5 3. Art Over the past 2 years the program has implemented art activities with 45 homebound elderly in the Old City / Wadi Joz area. Some received activities at home in one-on-one sessions, and those who could leave the house participated in activities in small groups. The elderly tried different disciplines and used a variety of materials and artistic ideas, such as: working with clay or cloth; learning different painting techniques (still life, acrylic paints); working with plaster, mosaics and embroidery. Funding Needs:* 1. Additional personnel. Currently there is one worker, who reaches 40 elderly residents per year. We aim to have a total of 3 personnel, which will enable us to reach 120 homebound elderly. The additional workers will be occupational therapists. 2. Renovations and equipment for the Elderly Center in the Christian Quarter. The facility in which the activities that take place is old and run-down, and requires constant upkeep and repairs. This will include: replacing the doors, installing a screens in windows and a handrail outside, plastering, general repairs. It also includes purchasing new equipment and furniture, such as a seating area, tables and chairs, a stove / oven, air conditioning units, security camera, amplification system. We believe the renovated Center will serve about 150 elderly on a weekly basis. Project Impact The participants immensely enjoy both parts of the program, and give very positive feedback. More than 60% of the participants who had not left their home because of mental / emotional reasons were convinced to leave their homes for the first time in years. There were some who even went to church, to local cafés or to the market and even visited their families. Many participants have begun to read books and newspapers again. The emotional well-being and physical health of many of the participants has visibly improved. Sustainability It is regular practice for programs to receive additional funding after a pilot program has been functioning and funded for 3 years. Thus, we expect that the expanded budget will be approved by the Ministry of Welfare after its first 3 years.

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