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| | ▲ GuildCare Celebrates Twenty-Five Years of Service in NY State
▲ Guild Elects New Board Member
▲ Young Visionaries Bowl to Support The Guild
▲ Guild Awards College Scholarships to 16 High-achieving Students From 16 States
▲ A High School Teacher Who Made a Difference
▲ Holiday Season 2009
▲ Learning Career Skills That Will Help Land a Job
▲ News From The Guild
▲ At The Guild
▲ Roberta Golub Is Chair of Guild’s 2010 Florida Benefit
▲ Beyond Words – Music Therapy at The Guild
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The Guild’s Adult Day Health Care (ADHC) program, GuildCare, recently celebrated twenty-five years of serving blind and visually impaired persons living in five locations: Albany, Buffalo, New York City, Niagara Falls and Yonkers.
 | | GuildCare Manhattan Program Director Lucille Bowen, RN, takes the blood pressure of GuildCare client Edelmira Guerrero. |
In 1984, GuildCare began operations in Yonkers at the Guild Home for Aged Blind. GuildCare was then, and remains today, New York State's only ADHC program specializing in services to adults who are blind or visually impaired and who have chronic medical conditions such as diabetes.
GuildCare opened at The Guild’s City Center in Manhattan in 1990, Albany and Buffalo opened in 1993 and Niagara Falls in 1996. Today, GuildCare is one of the largest providers of Adult Day Health Care services in New York State.
From its beginnings, the program has provided nursing services, vision rehabilitation, health monitoring, nutrition education, social work services, physical, occupational and speech therapies, therapeutic recreation and transportation as well as breakfast and lunch.
“Over the years, we have seen an increase in the number of frail individuals joining the program, many of them with extremely complex medical needs,” said Patricia F. Hayden, RN, Director of the GuildCare Network. “Tube feedings, nebulized medications, and continuous oxygen administration are now provided as part of GuildCare’s daily routine,” she continued.
Vision rehabilitation is a vital part of all aspects of programming with an emphasis on learning how to make the most of remaining vision and how to prevent further vision loss. Each program has a full-time Vision Rehabilitation Specialist who provides adaptive living skills training to promote independence. Aspects of the adaptive training include indoor/outdoor safety and mobility, kitchen safety, home skills, personal hygiene and grooming, organization and identification of household items, and communication skills. All programs are specially designed and adapted for clients with vision loss and medical frailty.
Extensive case management enables GuildCare’s population to remain in their own homes and communities as long as possible rather than entering skilled nursing facilities.
Because of the prevalence of diabetes among the GuildCare population, all programs focus on control of the disease process and clients receive regular blood glucose monitoring. They are also helped in preventing the onset of complications, notably vision loss as a result of diabetic retinopathy.
As a result of the ever-increasing focus on diabetes management and prevention, GuildCare incorporates Diabetes Self-Management Education in its Health Education programming. Over the past year, all of the GuildCare sites, as well as other ADHC programs in New York State, participated in an Evidence-Based Practice Collaborative sponsored by the Adult Day Health Care Council. One result was that 83% of participating GuildCare clients experienced a decrease in their HgbA1C, a measure of blood glucose over time. This positive outcome demonstrates that people attending an ADHC and taking part in diabetes monitoring and self-management education, can keep their diabetes under control.
As the program has grown and clients’ needs have changed, space requirements have changed. The Albany program moved into new quarters in 2003 and in 2004, program space in Buffalo was renovated and additional square footage was added. In 2007 the Niagara Falls program moved into a building specially designed for a day care program just outside the city, giving it a more central location in Niagara County. And in 2009, the Yonkers program moved into newly renovated premises.
For more information about the GuildCare Network and its sites in Albany, Buffalo, Manhattan, Niagara Falls and Yonkers, contact Patricia F. Hayden, RN, at 518-436-1968. ▲
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 | | Stanley H. Pantowich | Stanley H. Pantowich has been elected to The Jewish Guild for the Blind’s Board of Directors. Mr. Pantowich is the Managing Director and CEO of TAG Associates LLC, and he is Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Jewish Home Lifecare.
A graduate of the University of Illinois and of the Advanced Management Program at the Harvard Business School, Mr. Pantowich began his career at Arthur Young (now Ernst & Young) in 1963 and became a partner in 1974. In 1983 he co-founded TAG Associates, a portfolio management services company, and at that time, a pioneer in the concept of multi-generational, multi-family offices.
Mr. Pantowich serves on the Board of Directors of both the American Jewish Committee-New York Branch and the Alpine Capital Bank. He has served as a Trustee of the National Foundation for Jewish Culture and as Director of the US Committee for UNICEF.
The author of many articles on the subject of the multi-client family office, Mr. Pantowich also lectures widely in the field of taxation and has chaired a number of conferences that deal with family office and wealth management issues. ▲
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The Guild’s Young Visionaries held their annual fund-raising event recently at the Lucky Strike Lounge and Lanes in mid-town Manhattan. The evening included bowling, billiards, an open bar and a silent auction. The evening was co-chaired by Beth and Zach Solomon, Lauren Boxer, Adam Solomon and Tracey Weintraub. With almost 200 attendees, the evening was a huge success.  | | Left to Right: Event Co-Chairmen Adam Solomon (left) and Beth and Zach Solomon; Event Co-Chairman Tracey Weintraub and Randy McCallum; Event Co-Chairman Lauren Boxer and Brett Elias; Fashion designer Daniella Kay |
 | | Left to Right: Brett and Glenn Kushner and Adam Smith; Tara Germinsky and Steve Elmore. | The Young Visionaries are young professionals who come together to heighten awareness of The Guild’s mission and to raise funds in support of its programs and services. ▲
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The Guild recently announced that scholarships of $10,000 will be awarded to each of 16 college-bound high school seniors who are legally blind. These GuildScholars will be starting their freshman year in September 2010.
A teacher of one of the winners is being acknowledged for his role in encouraging and bringing out the best in his 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 $5,000.
“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 2010 selection committee were:
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;
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 16 winners after a rigorous application process that included criteria calling for academic excellence, community involvement, legal blindness, financial need and US citizenship. The 2010 GuildScholar Program scholarship winners are:
Ryan Alsman of Normal, IL – University HS
Carlos Baeza of Rockport, ME – Camden Hills Regional HS
Nathaniel Book of W. Suffield, CT – Suffield HS
Kyle Coon of Jacksonville, FL – Paxon School for Advanced Studies
Matthew Cooper of Durham NC – Charles E. Jordan HS
Jameyanne Fuller of Concord, NH – Concord HS
Marcus Meyer Goldberg of Austin, TX – McNeil HS
Dillon Hawley of East Arlington, VT – Arlington Memorial HS
Claire Elizabeth Johnson of Portland, OR – St. Mary’s Academy
Cord LaBarre of Hayward, WI – Hayward HS
Ashleigh Ladner of Slidell, LA – Northshore HS
Andrew Luk of Chino Hills, CA – Diamond Barr HS
Duncan McLaurin of Jackson, WY – Jackson Hole HS
Jeremy Morak of Hewlett, NY – George W. Hewlett HS
Helen Georgie Sydnor of Lynchburg, VA – E.C. Glass HS
Daniel White of Watertown, MA – Watertown HS
 | | Left to Right: Ryan Alsman; Carlos Baeza; Nathaniel Book; Kyle Coon; Matthew Cooper. |
 | | Left to Right: Jameyanne Fuller; Marcus Meyer Goldberg; Dillon Hawley; Claire Elizabeth Johnson; Cord LaBarre. |
 | | Left to Right: Ashleigh Ladner; Andrew Luk; Duncan McLaurin; Jeremy Morak; Helen Georgie Sydnor. |
 | | Daniel J. White | For information on the GuildScholar Program’s scholarships for the 2011 academic year, contact Gordon Rovins at 212-769-7801 or e-mail guildscholar@jgb.org. ▲
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David Eckstrom, who teaches chemistry at Hayward High School in Hayward, WI, was chosen as the GuildScholar Program’s Teacher of the Year. In his essay, entitled “Respect”, Cord LaBarre wrote of his teacher, “[Mr. Eckstrom] had worked as a chemical engineer before taking up his post as an instructor. His lectures, augmented by his previous practical experience as an engineer, always forced me to think differently than I had previously and in doing so, furthered my love for the subject.”▲
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 |  | | Singers from Grace Church School visited the Harriet and Robert Heilbrunn Guild School to perform holiday songs. Elizabeth Abrams, Grace Church School Choral Director and Music Teacher, kneels in front with her daughter Allegra, a Guild School student. | GuildNet SM staff conducted their Holiday Toy Drive this year, to benefit The Guild’s Early Intervention and Preschool programs. Ruth Fowler, GuildNet Vice President of Intake, shown here with some of the presents, organized the collection. |
 |  |  | | Santa Claus visited the Elizabeth L. Newman Preschool just before Christmas. Santa poses here with Preschool student Nico Flores and Nico’s mother, Daisy Colon. | Students from The Julliard School gave a recital for Manhattan GuildCare clients. Marta Kukularova (left), Tharanga Goonetilleke, Nathan Brandwein and Javier Bernardo performed Christmas music as well as arias from well-known operas and songs from Broadway shows. | For the 17th year, Bellringers from the Hewitt School performed holiday music for the students of the Guild School and Preschool. Hewitt School student Margarita Shvachko shows Guild School student Angel Arias Santana the “D3”. |
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One of The Guild’s Rehabilitation programs is directed at blind and visually impaired persons, many of them young adults, seeking a successful career. Many of the people attending the program are recent graduates of both high school and college who need help entering the job market because of their vision loss. Some are anxious to find a way into positions such as clerical and office work, retail sales and, in one recent case, the world of music as a rapper.
 | | Guild client Carmelo Scidone, with help from Janice Suarez, creates his resume on the computer, using ZoomText screen magnification. |
Adults who are forced to consider a career change are also helped. For example, a man in his early thirties had been a licensed electrician, but when his vision failed, he realized that he could no longer see the wires and had to seek a new career. He would like to become a veterinarian’s assistant.
Others attending the program come from pursuits where they have worked for years only to find that their vision loss forced them to find a new occupation. For example, there have been a number of former construction workers, architectural design workers, bus drivers and even a pharmacist’s assistant who turned to The Guild for help in starting a new career.
Janice Suarez, a Guild Social Worker, helps clients with resume writing, improving their presentation for a job interview and writing that first letter or e-mail. “I find it rewarding to work with the people in this program. They’re dedicated, willing to work and anxious to put their best qualities forward and this makes them better job applicants,” said Ms. Suarez.
In addition to a basic platform of resume writing, improved appearance, and letter writing, the program welcomes visits from potential employers, especially companies that have experience in hiring disabled applicants. Occasionally a college or university interested in recruiting new students will send a speaker to outline all of the provisions that the institution has in place to make it easier for blind and visually impaired students to get around the campus. “Confidence building is a huge part of what we do,” said Ms. Suarez; “we’ll even go so far as to have a staff member take the part of a potential employer during a training workshop.”
Rehabilitation Services at The Guild provide comprehensive training for independence. Whether it’s working in the kitchen or at the office, navigating the sidewalk or the internet, there are classes that offer assistance to persons who are blind or visually impaired who are interested in learning skills that will give them more control over their own lives. Most of the students for these classes are referred to The Guild by the New York State Commission for the Blind and Visually Handicapped.
For more information on Rehabilitation Services at The Guild, call 212-769-6263.▲
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 | | On page 3 of Guide Techniques, actress Maria Hansen, who is blind, demonstrates the use of the white cane. | SightCare, The Guild’s Vision Loss Education and Training Program, recently produced a new educational DVD entitled Guide Techniques, which accompanies a full-color booklet of the same title. Both the DVD, which is narrated by the actress Lynne Thompson, and the booklet provide detailed instructions on safe and effective methods to use when offering assistance to a person who is blind or visually impaired. Other common self-travel techniques are also illustrated.
Another new booklet, entitled Vision Loss: Everything you wanted to know but were afraid to ask!, answers commonly asked questions about vision loss and offers suggestions on ways people with poor eyesight can continue to lead safe and independent lives.
For information on SightCare programs and materials, call 1-800-539-4845, visit www.jgb.org or e-mail sightcare@jgb.org.▲
 | | Awilda Jackanin | The Guild’s Children’s Vision Health Initiative (CVHI) will be starting its first telephone support group conducted entirely in Spanish for parents of blind and visually impaired children from around the country. The group will be facilitated by Awilda Jackanin, LCSW, and will be open to all Spanish-speaking parents free of charge. Most of the parental support groups conducted by CVHI are grouped around specific eye conditions that affect certain children, but this group will be open to parents of children with a variety of vision conditions.
Ms. Jackanin, who is blind herself, was born in Puerto Rico and attended school in New York City, receiving her MSW from Fordham University. She has 25 years of social work experience, much of it working with blind children.
For more information about other CVHI telephone support groups for parents, contact Dan Callahan, Director of the Children’s Vision Health Initiative, at 212-769-7815.▲
 | | Front row: Yu Xudong, MD (left), Wang Li, Optometrist, Rebecca Marinoff, OD (SUNY); Back row: Guild Director of Vision Program Development Roy Cole, OD (left), Chen Jie, MD and Michael Heiberger, OD (SUNY). | A team of low vision specialists from China’s Wenzhou Medical College School of Optometry and Ophthalmology recently visited The Guild, where they observed the different kinds of vision rehabilitation services that are available to clients with low vision. With the help of the SUNY College of Optometry, they are planning the development of a Center of Excellence in Low Vision and Vision Rehabilitation in Wenzhou. The three-year project is partially funded through a grant from the Lavelle Fund for the Blind.▲
 | | GuildNet client James Vosseler (left), his wife Barbara, Mr. Vosseler’s Personal Care Aide Tiffany Rodriguez, and GuildNet Nurse Case Manager Derek Hawkins. | A photograph of a Long Island GuildNet client, his wife, his GuildNet Nurse Case Manager and his Personal Care Aide, will be the illustration for the month of July in the Home Care Association of New York State’s 2010 calendar called Faces of Home Care. GuildNet is The Guild’s managed long term care plan which is offered in Manhattan, Queens, Bronx, Brooklyn, and Nassau and Suffolk counties. ▲
 | | Tanya Gabrielian | The accomplished American pianist Tanya Gabrielian recently performed at The Guild under the auspices of Pro Musicis, an organization that provides concert opportunities to world-class musicians. This was her second visit to The Guild.
Ms. Gabrielian studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London. She received first prizes in both the 2004 Scottish International Piano Competition and the 2003 Aram Khachaturyan International Piano Competition, and is the winner of the 2008 Pro Musicis International Award. ▲
 | | Ayse Turan, MD | In November, Ayse Turan, MD, who is currently attached to the Turkish Consulate General in New York, visited The Guild’s Rifkin Family/Daughters of Israel Early Intervention program and the Elizabeth L. Newman Preschool as well as The Harriet and Robert Heilbrunn Guild School. She made her first visit to The Guild’s Early Intervention program in the late 1980s while she was studying at Stanford University. In Turkey, Dr. Turan is known for coordinating a wide range of projects relating to visually impaired children and adults. ▲
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Roy G. Cole, OD, Guild Director of Vision Program Development and Scott Gartner, OD, Director of Low Vision Services at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, jointly presented “Vision Enhancement and Rehabilitation of Patients with Vision Impairment” at the XXXI Inter-American Course in Clinical Ophthalmology held in Miami, FL. Dr. Cole also presented a brief program on Guild services at the American Academy of Optometry meeting in Orlando, FL, in November.
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Linda Gerra, EdD, Director of The Guild’s Rifkin Family/Daughters of Israel Early Intervention Program and the Elizabeth L. Newman Preschool, is currently teaching a course on Severe Disabilities and Deaf/Blindness to Hunter College Education Department students who are studying for the MSEd. She also recently guest-lectured at Hunter College to students studying for certification as Teachers of the Severely Disabled and Teachers of the Visually Impaired.
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 | | Left to Right: Fiona Graham, MD; Mary F. Labeck; Rachel C. Lok. | Fiona Graham, MD, joins The Guild as a Psychiatrist in Behavioral Health Services. Dr. Graham is also an Assoc. Attending Psychiatrist at Stony Lodge Hospital in Ossining as well as Psychiatric Consultant for Addiction Services at Odyssey House, in New York City. She received her medical training at the University of London Faculty of Medicine.
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Mary F. Labeck, MSEd, joins The Guild as a Special Education Teacher in The Guild’s Early Intervention and Preschool Programs. Before joining The Guild she worked for the Public Schools of Aurora, CO. She received her MSEd from Hunter College and her BS from Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, CT.
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Rachel C. Lok, RN, joins The Guild as a Nurse Case Manager for GuildNet. Prior to coming to The Guild, she worked in the Home Health Care program of the Cold Spring Hills Center for Nursing & Rehabilitation in Woodbury, NY. She received her BS in Nursing from CCNY.
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 | | Left to Right: Hallie M. Friedman; Kacey M. Fleck; Bernadine Pestio-Noguera. | Hallie M. Friedman, MS, joins the Guild School as a Speech-Language Pathologist. Before coming to The Guild she worked for both the Jersey City Medical Center and the Clarke School for the Deaf as a Speech-Language Therapist. She received her MS from Columbia University’s Teachers’ College and her BS from New York University.
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Kacey M. Fleck, LCSW, joins The Guild as a Social Worker for Behavioral Health Services’ Brooklyn Clinic. Before joining The Guild she worked as Mental Health Clinician/Case Manager for the Florida Assertive Community Treatment Team in Naples, FL. She received her MS from Rutgers University and her BS from Indiana University.
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Bernadine Pestio-Noguera, rejoins The Guild as an Occupational Therapist for the Early Intervention and Preschool Programs. Before working for The Guild, she was Staff Occupational Therapist at Our Lady of Mercy Medical Center in the Bronx. She received her BS from the State University of New York at Stony Brook.
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Tiyi Thomas, RN, joins The Guild as a Nurse Case Manager for GuildNet. Before joining The Guild, she worked as a Public Health Nurse for the Visiting Nurse Service of New York. She received her BS in Nursing from Herbert Lehman College in the Bronx.
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 | | Roberta Golub | Well-known philanthropist and community leader Roberta Golub is the chairwoman of The Jewish Guild for the Blind’s Vision 2010 Benefit, a Fashion Show and Luncheon which will take place on February 10, 2010 at the Four Seasons Resort in Palm Beach. Mrs. Golub graduated Cum Laude from New Jersey City University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Special Education. Mrs. Golub serves on the Maltz Jupiter Theatre Board. She and her husband, Harvey, are generous supporters of New York Presbyterian Hospital, Lincoln Center, the United Way, The Arnold P. Gold Foundation and many other charitable causes. They reside in Jupiter, New York City, and Sante Fe, NM.▲
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 | | Music Therapist Fred Paterno (with guitar) and clients from The Guild’s Mental Health Continuing Day Treatment Program. | Music therapy that includes singing and musical instruments is a treatment used at The Guild’s Mental Health Continuing Day Treatment Program. Groups of clients combine verbal and musical aspects of communication, especially important for those who have limited verbal skills, are profoundly withdrawn or who have a thought disorder that impedes verbal expression. “Music helps patients access alternate pathways leading to a more effective voice and a link to the external world and this helps the process of recovery and skills-building,” said Fred Paterno, MA, ACMT, Guild Music Therapist.
Active participation in a live music group helps clients with various anxieties or depression and can lead to the development of greater self-expression and decision-making skills.▲
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