Old Tappan
Golden Age club sponsors trips around the state in 2008
The Golden Age club of Old Tappan will sponsor the following trips in 2008.
• Sept. 18, Earhardts Italian Festival, $50
• Oct. 9, Platzl Brauhaus Octoberfest, $4
For more information call 201-664-4282.

Rockleigh
Two employees win awards
Luevenia Credle, employed by the Jewish Home for 33 years in various capacities, has received a certificate recognizing her achievements from the New Jersey Association of Homes and Services for the Aging in Princeton.
Luevenia started out as a nurse’s aide and rose to the job of assistant director of environmental services at the Jewish Home at Rockleigh. She was nominated as Staff Person of the Year by her supervisor, Andru Roswadowsky, director of environmental services, for her "honesty, work ethic and day-to-day operation of the laundry room and environmental services." Though she was not selected this year for the nominated position, NJAHSA said they wanted to recognize "her commitment to her work and the compassionate way" she provides care for the residents of JHR.
Mary Jane Dale, nurse case manager at the Jewish Home at Rockleigh, has also received a certificate recognizing her work by the New Jersey Association of Homes and Services for the Aging in Princeton.
Nominated for Professional of the Year by Annette Myers, director of marketing and admissions, Dale has been with the JHR for five years.
For more information about the Jewish Home at Rockleigh, call 201-784-1414.

Jewish Home offers day program
The Jewish Home at Rockleigh, Russ Berrie Home for Jewish Living, offers a medical day program for the frail, physically impaired or confused elderly in the community at its Gallen Adult Day Health Care Center. Programs at Gallen enable men and women who live alone or with others the opportunity to interact with other people their own age as well as with the professionals who work at the center and volunteers from the community.
Participants range in age from 60 to 100. Some live alone, some with families, others in senior houses or group homes. Many of the seniors feel lonely or isolated. Some may be depressed. The program is intended to counteract those feelings and give seniors a social experience as well as ways to maintain their abilities.
There are two activity rooms at the center – one geared to more advanced individuals and the other for Alzheimer’s patients. Shelly Steiner, LSW, social worker, explained, "We provide programs based on the individual’s level of functioning. We do simpler activities in the room for Alzheimer’s patients."
Planned activities include discussing the news, playing word games and reminiscing to keep the minds of participating seniors active. Exercise, bowling and moving to music help maintain physical agility.
The Jewish Home at Rockleigh is a non-profit facility that provides long-term care, outreach programs and outpatient services for the elderly and their families in Bergen, North Hudson and Rockland Counties.
For directions or further information on the program at Gallen, please call 201-666-2370.

Jewish Home keeps residents entertained
The Jewish Home at Rockleigh has an activities program that Charlene Vannucci, director of therapeutic recreation, says far surpasses the guidelines for nursing homes.
The mandatory guidelines for evening activities are two per week while the advisory guidelines are four per week. At the JHR, there are evening activities five nights per week in the Free Spirit unit (for the memory impaired) and the subacute unit. Residents can hear a player piano program or participate in karaoke programs three or four nights per week.
Vannucci said the JHR can have additional activities because it has a larger recreation staff than other facilities. The staff consists of Vannucci; Marina Umansky, assistant director of recreation; four full-time recreation leaders; and several part-time recreation leaders.
Four programs run simultaneously every morning, ranging from poetry in the garden, painters’ workshops, pet visits, music, tai chi and Jewish traditions to Bible study. In addition, there are arts and crafts programs five mornings per week – three days a week in the craft room and two days a week the crafts program is taken to residents.
There is a certified horticultural therapist, a part-timer who works with residents on plants and gardening. The therapist maintains the greenhouse and three working gardens on the upper level.
Once or twice a year, the entire staff entertains the residents in a holiday concert.
Cruise week is another project the recreation staff pulls together. Past "cruises" have been to the Spanish Islands of the Caribbean, Hawaii, the Greek Islands and a Mississippi River cruise.
"We turn the building into a ship with portholes, deck chairs, floatation devices and even flipflops. There’s always a captain and a meet-the-captain cocktail party. The staff dresses in uniforms or cruise wear," Vannucci explained.
For more information, call 201-784-1414.

Jewish Home uses Wii technology for rehabilitation
While kids are begging their parents to buy them Nintendo’s Wii, this video game system is taking on a whole new life in the hands of patients who are being rehabilitated at the Jewish Home at Rockleigh.
The first hospital to use Wii technology to treat patients with movement and balance problems was Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital in Edmonton in Alberta, Canada, but "this is not where the Jewish Home got the idea," said Maryann Adams, JHR’s director of rehabilitation. "Those of us who have played with our children at home and analyzed the movements necessary to successfully participate in games such as tennis, bowling, golf and baseball saw how Wii would nicely lend itself to rehab."
As she points out, some 700,000 Americans suffer strokes annually, 1.1 million Americans have heart attacks and many others are injured as a result of motor vehicle accidents or while participating in sports. A majority of these patients require physical therapy in order to recover from their injuries or disabilities.
"Quite often," Adams explained, "patients do not want to participate in the activities planned during a treatment session."
With Wii, their interest is captured because it looks like fun instead of work, so they actively participate in the session. Therapists can guide patients through golf swings, rolling a bowling ball down a lane or hitting a baseball to help them regain movement or teach their brain the right way to respond.
As a first step, a patient creates a new Wii character by following instructions on various screens to select gender and features. Then the patient selects a sport, such as virtual bowling, where he maintains a foot forward stance. As he follows through the action, he rotates his trunk, moves his arms as if he were bowling and works on dynamic balance.
"We work on hand/eye coordination and balance. This can be done by patients while they are sitting or standing. They start out seated and as they improve or show progress, we make the activity harder and they stand," explained Adams. "We also work on upper and lower body strength."
Speech therapists at the Jewish Home also use the program to address cognitive deficits, such as problem solving, short- and long-term memory impairment and poor decision making, she said.
"Wii may prove most effective when a patient is discharged and a home exercise program is recommended. The console sells for about $250 and the patient continues rehab at home. The game also promotes social interaction with families and friends," said Adams.