Newspaper Page Text
|^ Tuesday
LkW^Si thru
VbmFE JX Sunday
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JP!IHVi service
ifa Um ff ” 30am to
10:00 p.m.
4tf»m»'»««*t CArntt
restaurateur formerly at Ding Ho
end Hong Kong reetaurenta
Femtrty Jimmy Otens'l Kitehtm
at BuTon! Hiyhymy.
Problems of tho aged
•’i’. ^ »4*' 1 '1*L i/" 6*
'M
years
are tarnished!
by Norma Orovttz
Just because Bubbe and Zayde
live on Miami Beach ia no reason
to assume that their golden
years are being spent in the
sunshine on calisthenics and
canasta.
The golden years take on a tar
nished image when seen from
the vantage of the Miami Beach
Social Services office.
Frances Katz, not much
different in age from her clients,
has labored as a social worker in
that office for nine years. By her
own count, some 40 to 50 people
a day call on her or one of five
“senior aides” for a variety of
reasons. “We always help or
solve a problem. There’s so much
we do but still more that needs
doing . ..."
A semi-drasecd and ’‘con
fined”- 70-year-old woman has
been picked up by Beach police
one evening: Since the Social
Services office is closed, police
take the woman to a “covered en
vironment* to spend the night
In good defective style,
Frances encourages the woman
to remember her name. But no
more information is forthcom
ing.
“Where do you live?* asks
Frances.
TB think shout it*
“Do you have children?" '■
“Oh, yes, s son.”
“Where does he liver
“Where they make machines.”
Frances tracked down the at
torney son in Detroit and helped
him make nursing home
arrangements for his mother.
A 73-year-old, hard-of-
hearing, cancer patient has had
all of the swallowing muscles
removed from her throat. She
subsista on a liquid diet, Isocal,
that is poured through s funnel
into t tube on the side of her
neck. Living on a very low in
come, the woman could not
manage the additional $124 a
month it took to buy her con
tinued existence.
Frances Katz temporarily
funded the woman’s needs with
the help of a local health agency
and then successfully shopped
around for a permanent solution
arranged by the director of the
Food Stamps Program, and the
project director of the State
Nutrition Program.
An indigent and elderly
woman who cam for her blind
daughter lost h«r food stamps.
As the government will only
replace stolen stamps, the '
woman turned to Frances Katz.
With a gift certificate supplied
by the Khrania Club, Frances
was able to guarantee food on
the table.
A woman from Tampa left
home with thffec children after
being threatened by her
alcoholic husband. She arrived
at Miami Beach Social Services:
Francee found the family a place
to sleep recommended AFDC
(Aid to FimilieS of Dependent
Children), helped locate an
apartment, arranged for food
stamps and welfare assistance.
A double amputee had been
writing to a Brooklyn Sephardic
nursing home for two years. He
had the means to buy himself a
place but his long-distance pleas
were ignored Frances Katz and
one well-placed phone call and
the elderly, ill man was winging
his way North.
Frances Katz ia an om
budsman. She is the link
between old, sick and scared peo
ple and those local, state, federal
and private agencies which can
offSr apropriate aid. She is the
surrogate daughter these people
turn to because they are so
alone. “Sometimes the very
elderly lose themselves.. They’re
confused, s little senile and lone
ly. The loneliness ia horrid. They
need in uplift"
The uplift could be just a kind
word or a phone call.
"Kate, dear, what'a the
matter? My darling, don’t cry. I
can’t talk to you if you’re crying.
.. 1 can’t help you but I'll call the
doctor. Wbat’s hie name?”
The uplift could be teal, in the
form of food etampa, a list at
doctors, hospitalsor clinics, con
tacting children in s Northern
city, relieving the rescue squad
of s disoriented person, sundy
ing used eye glasses, hearing
aids, clothing or housing a lost
person in one of the several
small hotels near the South
Shore. Community Center.
That last, a “covered en
vironment,” is symbolic of the
care and dignity offered to
Social Services’ clients.
Until five years ago, Beach
police had only its own facilities
in which to house e confused end
lost person. Frances Katz
thought it unseemingiy for the
elderly and ill to be jailed even if
only temporarily and for
humane purposes.
Through 'Social Services
Supervisor Bernard Baron,
arrangements were made for
drop-in guests at the since-
closed Biscaya, St. George,
Coronet and Biscayne Collins
hotels. Now, police can escort an
evening pick-up to'a hotel in
stead of a holding cell.
For those who are able to
drop-in at the Social Services of
fice, Frances Katz is available to
' help. But for many elderly, the
walk to 6th Street may be too
difficult or impossible. For those
potential clients, Frances has
"Project Outreach” personified
by her five “senior aides.”
Rebecca Greenspan, 71-year-
old widow, ia one such senior
aide. Funded by a Department
of Labor project, Rebecca (who
has received a government cita
tion in recognition of her work)
will ge ont to interview a
homebound client, assist with
food stamps, deliver prescrip
tions, meet a discharged hospital
patient, write a letter and is “not
sverse to making tea and toast.”.
Both Francee and Rebecca call
each other “compassionate and
patient.” If Francee is unaware
at a specific attitude, she ia
cognisant of her need to be
useful. “I was born with this
feeling to help and do. There’s
not a pmon who doesn’t deserve
to be helped.
“But we try not to help by tak
ing away their initiative to help
themselves.” Therefore, all in
digents who are employable are
direetsd to FIOMdk State' *
Employment.
Bernard Baron, supervisor,
acknowledged that without re
cent, . soaring medical and
medicinal costs, many Social
Services clients would not be in
financial need.
Over the past five years, he
said, medical necessities have
caused those “who are not in
digent as such, to become
medically indigent.” Another
significant problem since the
national recession ia vagrancy.
Like the young mother from
Tampa, Miami Beach attracts
the unemployed who come with
children, a car and pressing
needs.
The $59,000 budgeted for
Miami Beach Social Services is
spent on all of these people and
problems. /-<
The money is funneled
through Frances Katz’ office in
the effort to ease the pain of ill
ness, old age and loneliness. In
psrt, Baron explained, it ie
because “children are minutely
involved” with their aging
parents.,
Bubbe and Zayde and South
Beach — not necessarily fun in
the sun.
Jewish Floridian
".‘•{to V'-iM•>*■;*. * -\i y
Remember
—■ m
wneiu
Remember when, your family used
to get together... friends bringing
their (favorite recipes? Now you
can come to the Marriott at
Perimeter Center’s Sunday
Brunch. We have a varied salad
bar, crispy hot breads, and a
delicious entree of the week. Bring
the whole family to the Marriott
at Perimeter Center and let us
take you back to how it used to be
for only $5.25 per person, children
under 12, $2.95. Remember every
Sunday 10 AM — 2 PM
Wfe want to make you happy.
.Marriott
# HOTEL
at Perimeter Center
246 Perimeter Center Pkwy.NE
394-6500
Just oft 1-285 at Ashford-Dun woody Road
HRl 6 ®*»d