Marcus Sperber, Chair of Jewish Care, spent a morning on the frontline at Jewish Care’s Otto Schiff care home for people living with dementia at the Maurice and Vivienne Wohl Campus.
It was an incredible morning, and after seeing first-hand the professionalism and compassionate care that our staff provide 24/7 across our care services, I feel an even deeper sense of pride and responsibility in being involved in Jewish Care’s critical work; ensuring we can give older people in our community today and into the future, the dignity and respect they deserve in the later years of their life within a Jewish environment.
As we enter the new financial year facing additional financial burdens on an already stretched charity and social care sector. The 1.2% rise in employers’ NI and the lowering of the NI threshold in the Budget add a massive £1.1 million to Jewish Care’s annual wage bill. Many of our care home residents are funded by already financially squeezed local authorities, and we need to find ways to bridge the gap to meet the true cost of care.
Despite these financial pressures, I’m proud that we continue to align our pay with the London Living Wage to retain and reward the exceptional people who make our work possible.
Representing 54 nationalities of all faiths and none, our staff has a shared purpose, caring for those in the Jewish community alongside our dedicated volunteers.
I’m excited and ready to pick up my uniform from Registered Manager, Kemi Ariba at 7.30AM. On the way to the morning handover meeting, I stop to talk to one of the care team who is starting her day. She tells me that she is going to the funeral of a gentleman she cared for over the past six years. He didn’t have family and she was clearly saddened by the loss, however expressed this as an important part of her everyday role in providing compassionate care.
We join Allan, Sonia, Maria, Leezette and Kemi and as I listen to their handover. I feel a deep sense of pride and responsibility in being involved with this vital part of our work. It is clear that the team holds decades of experience and expertise in providing professional care as they share essential information about each resident’s wellbeing and holistic needs with warmth and clear clinical insight.
We move up to the care home floor. There is a calm atmosphere and I’m surprised to see many residents already up and dressed by 8.30am, taking great pride in their appearance, some of them looking as if they could be ready for shul on Shabbat.
The staff are like family to the residents, enabling them to feel safe and cared for, with personalised preferences catered for; knowing who likes a bit more butter on their toast or a bit more jam. They bring calm, positive energy and a sense of humour with their care along with a real passion for their work.
I am greeted by some of the residents with warmth and curiosity as I assist with making breakfast. I chat with Doreen Reindorp, 97, a great-grandma who worked in Salford as a seamstress and a shop assistant. She says she loved chatting with customers, which is evident as she‘s a wonderful conversationalist with a great sense of humour.
Betty Escane, 92, who was evacuated to Cornwall went to school in St Austell where I often go for holidays and we compare notes. She worked in women’s wear in a London department store before being a full-time mum, proudly sharing that her late husband worked in the film industry and as a taxi driver, and her father had worked in the meat trade at Smithfield Market. Her son, Mark, calls to say good morning and to check in with his mum.
Rabbi Junik, our Pastoral and Spiritual Lead comes to make a pastoral visit to the residents, creating another ripple of positivity.
Each resident’s life story is shared by families with staff so they can understand their past and each room has a display box outside with photos and objects highlighting their rich histories and range of life experiences for us to learn from and be inspired by.
I chat to Marjorie Don, 94, who has the scales of justice on her door. She received her History degree and passed her Bar Exams before raising three daughters, whilst volunteering at Hendon Citizens Advice Bureau. Marjorie became a magistrate and taught Law at Harrow Community College. This led to her setting up one of the first Duty Solicitor Schemes (Legal Aid) in England at Willesden Magistrates’ Court in the mid-1970s. She also became the full-time Chairman for the Industrial Tribunal Board in London and took mandatory retirement when she turned 70 in 2000. Marjorie has visited her seven grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren in Canada and New Zealand, and enjoyed travelling around the world with her late husband, Gerald.
I met David who had been a taxi driver, who loves people and football in equal measure, and is so proud of his family and Rita, 101, who had been a homemaker, a proud mum, grandma and great-grandma who spent many years devoting herself to raising funds for the Jewish community.
The people I meet rejuvenate me and my experience instills an even stronger conviction of the urgent need to continue to provide this essential Jewish care for our community.