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| | ▲ Guild’s SightCare Training Reaches Hundreds of Staff At Jewish Home Lifecare
▲ Guild Continues to Promote Diabetes Awareness, Education and Care
▲ The Guild Attends the Theater
▲ Guild Awards College Scholarships to 13 Extraordinary Students
▲ Holiday Season 2008
▲ Guild Offers New Poster
▲ GuildNet Conducts Holiday Toy Drive
▲ Children’s Vision Health Initiative Launches New Telesupport Group for Teens
▲ GuildCare Celebrates Twenty-three Years of Service in Yonkers With New Site
▲ Guild’s Psychiatric Clinic Serving the Community for Nearly 50 Years
▲ Man’s Best Friend Is a Real Pal for Preschool Students
▲ At The Guild
▲ Guild Welcomes Visitors From Home And Abroad
▲ Guild School Collaborates with The Children Art Foundation
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In preparation for the opening of the first phase of The Guild Institute for Vision and Aging on the campus of the Bronx division of Jewish Home Lifecare (JHL), The Guild’s SightCare program recently completed training 874 members of staff and 65 volunteers. The purpose of the training was to educate staff about common vision problems and their impact on quality of life, improve interaction between staff and residents with vision loss, and promote the safety and independence of all residents. Early this year, SightCare training will commence at JHL’s Manhattan campus.
The training sessions involved staff members from every department in the nursing home. Throughout the entire JHL, doctors, nurses, nursing aides, therapists, administrators, kitchen and maintenance staff received training in basic mobility techniques, activities of daily living and how simple techniques can promote independence in daily tasks, as well as the creation of a safe and vision-friendly environment.
 | | Staff in training, working with residents: Seelochine Narine, FSW, explains to Lew Stern how to use a “plate guard” to keep food from being accidentally pushed off the plate. |
Certain groups of staff were targeted for intensive training. Special sessions led by rehabilitation staff were held for occupational and physical therapists.
The topics of the special sessions included vision loss and low vision services, the incorporation of vision assessment into patient evaluations, practice modifications and treatment preparations, interventions and goals that accommodate visual functioning and the facilitating of independent travel within the nursing home.
As with all the members of staff, JHL’s volunteers were given instruction in the “sighted guide technique” so that they may be more effective helping residents with vision loss.
Extensive renovations have been carried out on the first floor of The Guild Institute to bring about changes that will make a better, safer environment for residents with visual impairments. Two more floors in the same building will eventually be renovated and added to the Institute.
Establishing an environment conducive to the comfort of nursing home residents with visual impairment has meant numerous changes to the allocated space. The lighting in the halls, bedrooms and lounge is brighter and less institutional, and residents have been given more control over the light in their own rooms. Color contrasting is also an important environmental element. Clear distinctions are made between railings and walls, base moldings and doors, through the use of color. These allow a person with vision loss to navigate the floor safely and independently.
The SightCare program offers training for healthcare personnel, education for family caregivers and community service providers, as well as environmental consultation and assistance in meeting ADA accessibility requirements. For more information on SightCare, contact Annemarie O’Hearn, Vice President, Community Health, at 518-436-1520.▲
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November was “American Diabetes Month” and The Guild’s Maxine and John Bendheim Center for Diabetes Care promoted awareness through its community  | | Karen McCauley, RN, demonstrates a talking glucose meter to Rafael Brito-Benitez. | outreach activities. On-going education about diabetes as well as information about access to diabetes self-management training, low vision evaluations and appropriate medical services, all available at The Guild, were covered at meetings of seniors throughout the city.
The Bendheim Center offers a Diabetes Self-Management Education Program recognized by the American Diabetes Association and it now includes a monthly support group facilitated by Karen McCauley, RN, CDE, the Center’s Program Coordinator/Diabetes Nurse Educator.
For more information on The Bendheim Center’s activities, call Karen McCauley at 212-712-9944.▲
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The Guild recently brought together friends, families and supporters for an evening at Broadway’s latest smash-hit musical, Billy Elliot, at the Imperial Theatre. The musical reunites the award-winning team behind the 2000 film of Director Stephen Daldry; Book and Lyrics by Lee Hall, featuring the music of Sir Elton John with choreography by Peter Darling. The theater benefit, which started with dinner at the nearby Marriott Marquis Hotel, was a sold-out success.▲
 |  | | (left to right) Benefit Co-Chairman Pauline Raiff and her husband Frederic; Moe Tarkinow and Benefit Co-Chairman Susan Mendik | (left to right) Guild Chairman of the Board James Dubin and Joseph Mishkin; Jane and Paul Rittmaster |
 |  | | Beth Rogers (left) and Lawrence and Maya Goldschmidt | Martin (left) and Selma Mertz and Guild President and CEO Alan R. Morse |
 |  |  | | Anita Boxer (left), Lauren Boxer, Leonard Boxer and Beth Cutler | Shelley and Dr. Norman Brier | Anita Blatt (left) and Jeffrey and Karen Jacobson |
 |  | | Barbara Burger (left), Thomas Graham Kahn and Lynn Weitzman | John and Carol Finley |
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The Guild recently announced that scholarships of $14,000 will be awarded to each of 13 college-bound high school seniors who are legally blind. These GuildScholars will be starting their freshman year in September 2009.
A teacher of one of the winners is being acknowledged for her role in encouraging and bringing out the best in her students. Each applicant was asked to write an essay about a teacher whose encouragement made a great difference in their lives. The teacher chosen from among the applicants’ essays will receive a prize of $4,000.
“We’re mindful of the often unexpectedly large sums of money needed to accomplish a successful transition from high school to a college or university and we think that this scholarship money can be put to excellent use during this phase,” said Alan R. Morse, JD, PhD, President and CEO of The Guild.
“At The Guild, we are committed to working toward a more inclusive society. The GuildScholar program will help assure that more blind students are able to enroll in colleges or universities that might otherwise be beyond their reach financially,” Dr. Morse continued. “We’re not concerned with their fields of study, but we are eager to help in the education of this country’s next generation of leaders, a group that must include persons with vision impairment,” he concluded.
The recipients were chosen by a selection committee not only experienced in overseeing programs for blind and visually impaired persons, but also knowledgeable in matters of student financial aid and the non-profit organizations that fund educational programs. The members of the selection committee are:
Allen C. Harris, MA, Director of the Iowa Department for the Blind;
Patricia N. Lewis, PhD, Executive Director of the AIM Foundation, Houston, TX;
Alan R. Morse, JD, PhD, President and CEO of The Jewish Guild for the Blind;
Thomas A. Robertson, former Associate Commissioner of the New York State Commission for the Blind and Visually Handicapped;
Frederic K. Schroeder, PhD, Research Professor, San Diego State University, former Director of the Professional Development and Research Institute on Blindness, Louisiana Tech University, Ruston, LA.
The committee chose the 13 winners after a rigorous application process that included criteria calling for academic excellence, community involvement, legal blindness, financial need and US citizenship. The 2009 GuildScholar Program scholarship winners are:
 |  | | James Baker and Nicole Caso | Gabriel Castellanos and Michael Forzano | James Baker of West Valley, NY, West Valley Central
Nicole Caso of Bronx, NY, Preston High School
Gabriel Castellanos of Tempe, AZ, Brophy College Preparatory
Michael Forzano of Yonkers, NY, Yonkers High School
 |  | | Briana Friel and Brian Kempfer | Janice Jihyun Lee and Samantha Pinnell | Briana Friel of South Salem, NY, John Jay High School
Brian Kempfer of Springboro, OH, Springboro High School
Janice Jihyun Lee of Huntington Beach, CA, Marina High School
Samantha Pinnell of Carlsbad, CA, La Costa Canyon High School
 |  | | Nicole Press and Heather Marie Rasmussen | Abby Schoenbeck, Rose Sloan and Ashley Claire Townsend | Nicole Press of Norwalk, CT, Norwalk High School
Heather Marie Rasmussen of Watertown, TN, Watertown High School
Abby Schoenbeck of Apple Valley, MN, Apple Valley High School
Rose Sloan of Schaumburg, IL, Schaumburg High School
Ashley Claire Townsend of Ormond Beach, FL, Seabreeze High School
 | | Nancy Burrows | An elementary school teacher who made a difference: Nancy Burrows, who taught Ashley Claire Townsend at Pine Trail Elementary School in Ormond Beach, FL, was chosen as the GuildScholar Program’s Teacher of the Year.
For information on the GuildScholar Program’s scholarships for the 2010 academic year, contact Gordon Rovins at 212-769-7801 or e-mail guildscholar@jgb.org. ▲
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 | | Santa poses with Gaia Mourad. | Santa Claus visited the Elizabeth L. Newman Preschool just before Christmas, where he was welcomed by students and parents, listened to Christmas wishes and distributed presents.
 | | Hewitt School student Natalie Shemilt (right) shows Guild School student Subhia Ahmad the sleigh bells | For the 16th year, Bellringers from the Hewitt School performed holiday and classical music for the students of the Guild School and Preschool.
In December, Yonkers GuildCare received a visit from the Yonkers Fire Department Chorus, which has been singing carols and holiday songs for senior citizens throughout the city for the past 50 years.▲
 |  | | Yonkers Fire Commissioner (Ret.) Edward Dunn chats with Nieves Del Rosa Arias. | Assistant Chief Kyran Dunn accompanies the singing. |
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 | | New educational poster shows effects of four major eye diseases. | As part of its National Vision Awareness Campaign, The Guild is now offering a new informative, colorful poster with the heading: Is someone you know not seeing the whole game? Measuring 18 x 24 inches, the four-color poster illustrates how a person with normal vision sees New York Giants Quarterback Eli Manning falling back to throw a pass during Super Bowl XLII, and then how that same scene looks to someone who has macular degeneration, diabetic ret-inopathy, cataracts or glaucoma.
For a free copy of this poster (also available in Spanish), contact: SightCare, The Jewish Guild for the Blind, 15 West 65th Street, New York, NY 10023, Telephone: 800-539-4845, e-mail: sightcare@jgb.org.▲
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GuildNet staff conducted their first Holiday Toy Drive this year, to benefit The Guild’s Early Intervention, Pre-school and School. A wish list was circulated and staff could either buy toys as gifts or donate money. Puzzles,
picture books and musical toys topped the list of collected items. Ruth Fowler, GuildNet Vice President of Intake said “People from all our offices really came together for this heart-warming project and gave generously both of their time and money.” GuildNet is The Guild’s managed long-term care program, offered in Manhattan, Queens, Bronx, Brooklyn, and Nassau and Suffolk Counties.▲
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The Guild’s Children’s Vision Health Initiative (CVHI) has added a new telephone support group aimed at the social isolation problems often experienced by blind teenagers in High School and College. The group was started at the request of parents who currently participate in other CVHI-sponsored support groups and is being facilitated by Daria Zawadzki, LMSW, a Harvard graduate who is legally blind.
The group is made up of teenagers from across the country and includes some recent Guild Scholarship winners.
For more information about telephone support groups sponsored by The Guild contact Dan Callahan, Director of the Children’s Vision Health Initiative, at 212-769-7815.▲
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GuildCare, The Guild’s Adult Day Health Care (ADHC) program, is now operational in new premises at 4 Executive Plaza, Yonkers. The facility has undergone a $1 million renovation, in space designed to meet the needs of the growing number of visually impaired, medically frail individuals who attend the program.
The newly renovated structure comprises 7,000 sq. ft. of interior space that is fully accessible for people in wheelchairs. The main entrance doors are automated and there are five bathrooms which are all wheelchair accessible. Amenities include
a full kitchen for training blind and visually impaired individuals in the preparation and cooking of food in a safe and independent manner. Eighty feet of windows have been included to allow adequate natural light.
GuildCare Yonkers serves registrants from the Bronx, Dobbs Ferry, Harrison, Mamaroneck, Mount Vernon, New Rochelle, Ossining, White Plains and Yonkers.  |  | | GuildCare’s new site at 4 Executive Plaza in Yonkers. | Eighty feet of windows allows GuildCare registrants plenty of natural light. |
Twenty-three years after its inception, GuildCare is New York State’s only ADHC provider specializing in services to the community of persons with vision impairment and chronic medical conditions. In 2007, the GuildCare network provided services to more than 850 individuals. Since its founding in 1985, the program has helped many thousands of New York State residents in Yonkers, Albany, Buffalo, Manhattan, Niagara Falls and also in Boston.
From its beginnings, the program has offered a health-focused model in which nursing services are provided. “Over the years, we have seen increasingly frail individuals joining the program, many of them often with extremely complex medical needs,” said Patricia F. Hayden, RN, Director of the GuildCare Network. “Tube feedings, nebulized medications, continuous oxygen administration, Diabetic teaching and blood glucose monitoring are now provided as part of GuildCare’s daily routine,” she concluded.
For more information about the GuildCare Network, contact Patricia F. Hayden, RN, at
518-436-1968. For information about GuildCare Yonkers, contact Joan Clark, RN, Program Director at 914-220-8590.▲
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 | | Counseling session in progress: Alan Simensky (right) and psychiatrist Serge Mosovich, MD, MPH. | The Guild’s Psychiatric Clinic, licensed by the New York State Office of Mental Health, is the only operational psychiatric service in the country designed specifically for people who are blind or visually impaired. Since opening in 1961, it has been in continuous operation, serving thousands of clients in the New York metropolitan area. In January 2006, a satellite clinic was opened in Brooklyn to serve individuals unable to travel to Manhattan.
“The Psychiatric Clinic specializes in working with persons, their families and caregivers, who are having adjustment reactions to vision loss. It also serves those who, in addition to vision loss, may be experiencing severe anxiety, depression or acute, serious and persistent emotional problems,” said Goldie Dersh, PhD, Vice President, Behavioral Health Services.
Composed of interdisciplinary teams of psychiatrists, social workers and case managers, the Clinic offers its clients individualized diagnostic and treatment plans that include individual therapy, medication management as well as the opportunity to participate in various therapy groups, such as Diabetes Management, Substance Abuse or Blind Parenting with Sighted Children. The Clinic’s ability to integrate its treatment plans with The Guild’s extensive health care and rehabilitation services provides clients with the widest possible support system.
For information about services offered at The Guild’s Psychiatric Clinic, call 212-769-6263.▲
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Bailey, a Golden Retriever, visits The Guild’s Elizabeth L. Newman Preschool students once a week with his owner Laura Jiencke. He comes courtesy of the Bide-A-Wee Pet Therapy Program, which has been sending volunteers and their pets into schools and nursing homes for more than 15 years. “Many of our students’ families don’t have dogs, so we teach them how to respect a dog – no hitting, no pinching,” said Linda Gerra, Director of the Preschool. “The children have come to expect his visits and they love to stroke his coat and talk
to him.”▲
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Guild President and CEO Alan R. Morse, JD, PhD, has been appointed to the editorial board of Archives of Ophthalmology, published by the American Medical Association.
Dr. Morse and Bruce Pyenson, FSA, MAAA, of Milliman, Inc., a Seattle-based actuarial firm, presented “Medical Care Cost of Medicare Beneficiaries with Vision Loss Part II” at the 2008 annual meeting in San Diego of the American Public Health Association. A paper based in part on this presentation will appear in the Jan-Feb issue of Ophthalmic Epidemiology.
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Roy G. Cole, OD, Guild Director of Vision Program Development presented the Children’s Vision Health Initiative’s telesupport network at a low vision session of the American Academy of Optometry meeting in Anaheim, CA, in October. While there he taught a course “Low Vision Rehabilitation: What’s It All About?” and gave a talk on “Programs for Patients Who are Visually Impaired with Other Handicapping Conditions.”
Dr. Cole and Scott Gartner, OD, from the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, presented “Introduction to Vision Rehabilitation and Instruction in Low Vision Care” at the 30th Inter-American Course in Clinical Ophthalmology in Miami.▲
Patricia Elliott, RN, has been promoted from Nurse Case Manager (NCM) to NCM-Preceptor for GuildNet. Jaunell Haynes, RN, has been promoted from NCM to Case Management Supervisor for GuildNet. Maggie Martinez, has been promoted from Member Services Specialist to Member Services Supervisor for GuildNet. Helen Shaub, RN, has been promoted from Intake Worker to Intake Case Manager for GuildNet. Brenda Tripode, RN, has been promoted from NCM to Case Management Supervisor for GuildNet.
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Oluremi Adedokun, RN; Celeste Barnett, RN; Maria Fernandez, RN; Daisy Guzman, RN; Esmine Johnson, RN; Jamie Keenan, RN; Geraldine O’Hare, RN; Camille Platzek, RN, and Roselle Vatter, RN, join The Guild as Nurse Case Managers for GuildNet. Deniece Wilkinson, RN, joins The Guild as Intake Case Manager for GuildNet.
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Aaron Kesselman, LMSW, GuildNet Marketing Associate, was honored at the National Association of Social Workers Annual Emerging Social Work Leaders Awards ceremony.
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Beth M. Epstein, LMSW, joins The Guild as a Social Worker for GuildNet. Before coming to The Guild, she was a Case Manager for the New York City Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. She received her MSW from New York University and her BA from the University of Massachusetts.
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Sucheta Gadkar, RN, DE, MS, joins The Guild as Nurse/Diabetic Educator with GuildNet’s Diabetes Disease Management Team. Before joining The Guild, she worked for Park Avenue Health Care Management in New York City as an Adult Nurse Practitioner. She received her nursing training and her MS from Molloy College.
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Deborah Grossman, RN, LCSW, joins The Guild as a Social Worker for Behavioral Health Services. Before coming to The Guild, she worked for the Woodside Mental Health Clinic/Catholic Charities, Neighborhood Services. She received her nursing training at New York City Technical College, her MSW from Hunter College School of Social Work and her BA from Lehman College.
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Jane V. Kramer, LMSW, joins The Guild as a Social Worker for GuildNet. Before coming to The Guild, she worked for Catholic Charities Bethlehem / Blended Case Management in Brooklyn. She received her MSW from Fordham University and her BA from New England College in Henniker, NH.
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Ada Bekker, MA, joins The Guild as Provider Relations Manager for GuildNet. Before joining The Guild, she worked for Community Choice Health Plan in Yonkers. She received her MA from the Moldovian State Institute of Arts, Kishinev, Moldova.▲
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Linda Merrill, President & CEO of Envision, of Wichita, KS and Mary Shannon, Director of Advancement for Envision, toured The Guild in December. Founded in 1931 as the Wichita Workshop and Training School for the Adult Blind, Envision offers vision rehabilitation services as well as employment to individuals who are blind, visually impaired or developmentally disabled.
Cal Miller, Vice President, Marketing, for Gulfstream Goodwill Industries based in West Palm Beach, FL, recently toured Guild programs with special emphasis on the Low Vision Clinic. Gulfstream Goodwill Industries provides programs and services to persons with disabilities living in Palm Beach, St. Lucie, Indian River and Okeechobee Counties.
Robert Thompson, Coordinator of Secondary & Post 16, for the Sensory Service’s Visually Impaired Team, a part of the Leeds, England, Education Department, recently visited The Guild while
on a trip to the United States in late October. The Sensory Service consists of specialist staff who ensure access to the most inclusive educational setting for students with visual impairment and those who are Deaf/hearing impaired.▲
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This past summer, the New York City-based non-profit Children Art Foundation (CAF) forged a collaborative agreement with The Harriet and Robert Heilbrunn School at The Guild which, throughout the autumn months, helped enhance the school’s art therapy program.
 | | Working at a loom: Guild student Joseph Harvey (left) and CAF volunteer Willie Baez. |
Volunteer artists, provided through CAF, visit for several hours a week, working with the school’s art therapist as “Teaching Assistants”. They are part of CAF’s Visiting Artists Roster, made up of professional artists in the
New York metropolitan area who volunteer their time
and talent. CAF provides funding for art supplies and, at the end of the school year, will arrange for an exhibition of the students’ artwork in a gallery setting.
Some of The Guild students involved in the project are learning about looms and weaving using the looms to create fabrics with a variety of textures and bright or reflective patterns.
CAF was established in 2008 to promote children’s emotional and cognitive development through “hands on” education in the arts. In this, the program’s first year, there is a sister collaboration with a school in Tak, a city in Thailand; and there are plans to expand to other cities and countries in coming years. CAF President César A. Alfonso, MD, said “We at CAF believe that by fostering creative thinking during early childhood, art education can help in the development of better problem-solving skills.”▲
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