JewishCare and Wolper grief assist
Sydney’s JewishCare has signed an agreement with the Wolper Jewish Hospital to utilise its programs assisting those grief-stricken following the loss of a loved one.
Grieving is something each one of us will have to deal at some stage of our life and we will react differently to this experience.
Dr David Golovsky and Alan Vidor put pen to paper
For over 10 years JewishCare’s Chessed Bereavement Support program has helped hundreds of members of the community deal with loss and grief. This usually involves an end of life experience but it can also involve other losses such as the loss of independence as a result of aging.
The program which utilises staff and trained and caring volunteers has built up considerable expertise in helping people work through the process of grieving.
Twelve months ago Wolper Jewish Hospital approached JewishCare to assist them to enhance their palliative care capabilities. The JewishCare Board agreed to a trial whereby Des Kahn the coordinator of the program would offer counseling to the palliative care patients and their families.
Hospital president David Golovsky explained. “We have been very impressed with the results from the program. The feedback from the patients and the staff has been very positive. There is no doubt that the specialised knowledge that Des and his team brings to this very challenging time has been of considerable benefit to many members of our community”.
As a result of the success of this trial Wolper Jewish Hospital and JewishCare have signed an agreement under which the Hospital will retain The Chessed Bereavement Support program on an ongoing basis. Under this agreement the Hospital will effectively outsource the program from JewishCare.
President of JewishCare Allan Vidor said. “JewishCare is always looking for opportunities to work with other community organisations and it is a great pleasure to be able to utilise our unique knowledge and experience to work alongside such a venerable organisation as Wolper Jewish Hospital”.
