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Featured Article

Home Sweet Home — A Reflection of Service

by Sudha Narasimhan, LSW, Home Sweet Home Program Coordinator

Since July 2010, Home Sweet Home (HSH), a Jewish Family Service of Somerset, Hunterdon and Warren (JFS) program federally funded through the U.S. Administration on Aging, has made important strides in helping older adults living in the Somerville-Bridgewater area remain and thrive in the community through receiving services and other community supports. Some of our successful endeavors include sponsoring a Senior Health Fair and a Resource Fair in the neighborhood to help disseminate information and resources that are important to seniors in the community.

In addition, HSH provides weekly services to the Adult Day Center of Somerset County, the Shimon and Sara Birnbaum Jewish Community Center in Bridgewater, and the Somerville Senior Citizens' Housing Building (SSCH). These services include case management, community linkage, health and wellness related group discussions including mental health issues, individual counseling, and other social activities that promote well being.

In November 2010, Home Sweet Home began offering a new service at the SSCH building that specializes in helping older adults adapt and learn about new media, technology, and navigating the Internet. This service exists because of a special and dedicated AmeriCorps member- Nadine Chandler.

Nadine provides her time and energy through her service and participation in AmeriCorps, a federally funded service program that allows members to provide community service through various projects. “My reasons for wanting to join AmeriCorps were simply to experience the life of being a volunteer while giving back to a special group of people; our seniors”, states Nadine.

Using her expertise with computers and other modern day technology, both simple and complex, Nadine has been able to help many of the tenants at SSCH with various needs, such as ordering prescriptions online, using email and Skype to communicate with far away family and friends, “surfing the net” and even helping one senior learn to use a cell phone for the first time.

With the fast pace of changing technologies and our youth oriented culture it's easy for seniors to feel marginalized. But along comes Nadine who demonstrates it's never too late to learn new things. Her gentle and patient manner encourages her new friends to stick with it until they've master the skill at hand. The connection she makes with her friends at SSCH enables them to connect to the world.

One very special moment for Nadine occurred recently when working with a tenant who is partially blind. Late life blindness had limited this tenant's involvement with previously enjoyed activities and was affecting her outlook on life. Nadine was able to teach this person to use the Internet to communicate with her favorite singing group, a nationally known choir. She was even able to see and hear them live in concert online.

Making the inaccessible, accessible, helped to brighten this senior's life and gave her something to look forward to and enjoy. Nadine's pride in her work shines through; she states that “working with Jewish Family Service and AmeriCorps has added even more to my experience…my time has turned out to be a win/win opportunity that I will share with others for a long time”.

Home Sweet Home is a program that receives funding through the US Administration on Aging, Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation, ERS Family Fund, Grotta Fund for Senior Care, Wallenstein Foundation for Geriatric Life Improvement and the Merck Foundation. For more information about JFS and the Home Sweet Home program, contact 908-725-7799, Admin@JewishFamlySvc.org or www.JewishFamilySvc.org.