Local – Page 136

Community milestones … May 26/17

The B.C. Civil Liberties Association is very pleased to honour the decades of service of with a special Lifetime Achievement Award.

Rosenberg is a professor emeritus of computer science at the University of British Columbia and a member of the BCCLA for nearly 30 years. His work focused on the implications of the internet for such important civil liberties areas as privacy and anonymity, free speech, access and ethics.

Rosenberg has focused his work on the developments of national and international privacy policies, particularly with respect to electronic media, in Canada, the United States and Europe, as well as national and international approaches to the regulation of free speech on the internet. As such, his work has been critical to promoting and protecting privacy rights.

The award was presented at BCCLA’s annual general meeting on May 11 at Vancouver Public Library.

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The 2017 DOXA Documentary Film Festival awards were announced on May 13. Among them was Jewish community member Julia Ivanova’s Limit is the Sky, which received the Colin Low Award for Canadian Documentary (presented in partnership with William F. White). Jury members Tammy Bannister, Lisa Christiansen and Josh Cabrita said of the film: “In 20 years, if someone asks you, ‘Tell me about Fort Mac,’ you can tell them to watch a documentary that is both timely and timeless….”

Limit is the Sky follows six young Canadians, including refugees from the Middle East and Africa, who come to Fort McMurray, the capital of the third-largest oil reserve in the world. “Fort Mac” becomes a testing ground for these young dreamers as they struggle with their own perceptions of money, glory and self-worth amid plummeting oil prices, an unpredictable economy – and then a devastating wildfire. Limit is the Sky is produced by Bonnie Thompson and executive produced by David Christensen for North West Studio. It also received the 2016 Multimedia Award from the Petroleum History Society in Calgary.

Presented by the Documentary Media society, a Vancouver-based nonprofit, charitable society, DOXA ran May 4-14. Those who missed seeing Limit is the Sky during the festival can now purchase or rent it from the National Film Board at nfb.ca or from iTunes.

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Rabbi Yechiel Baitelman of Chabad of Richmond will be honoured by Oholei Torah Educational Institute, Chabad’s flagship Brooklyn school, on May 28 for his outstanding achievements in Jewish outreach and communal activity. The school has more than 7,000 alumni around the world.

Celebrating their 60th year of excellence in Jewish education, Oholei Torah called on community members worldwide to nominate 60 alumni who have shown an exemplary dedication to implementing the school’s ideals, specifically in furthering Jewish education and strengthening Jewish life. Baitelman was nominated by his peers for his enthusiastic and unwavering commitment to his Jewish community of Richmond and beyond.

“Oholei Torah Educational Institute prides itself on its training of devoted rabbis and inspired community leaders,” said Rabbi Joseph Rosenfeld, director of Oholei Torah. “Rabbi Baitelman truly lives up to the school’s ideals, and has dedicated his life to furthering Jewish awareness and Jewish education.”

With his profoundly sincere, caring attitude and inclusive approach, Baitelman inspires countless Jews from all levels of Jewish observance, with his welcoming outreach programs and thought-provoking classes. He encourages those around him to continue learning and embracing their Judaism through a wide range of educational programs and services – weekly Torah classes; Smile on Seniors lunches featuring entertainment and speakers; six-week Rohr Jewish Learning Institute classes; Simple Truths women’s learning; Land & Spirit, Israel Experience; National Jewish Retreat; Mom and Tot program; Hebrew school; Light of Shabbat kosher meals delivered to the homebound; CTeens club for Jewish youth; Minyanairs Club; and many other programs.

Information about the dinner at which Baitelman will be honoured can be found at oholeitorah.com. The community of Richmond and all of Chabad wish him yasher koach!

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photo - Abba Brodt

The Jewish National Fund of Canada, Pacific Region, is pleased to announce that Abba Brodt is the recipient of JNF’s Education Award. We wish Brodt a hearty mazal tov on this well-deserved honour for his dedication and leadership in educating the next generation within the Jewish community. Brodt will receive the award at this year’s Negev Dinner on June 4 at Four Seasons Hotel Vancouver.

Brodt is head of school at Richmond Jewish Day School, a position he has held for five years. Under his watch, RJDS has grown 40%; it is now a school of 105 students from kindergarten to Grade 7.

A trained social worker and former director of community planning for and campaign associate of the Jewish Federation, both in Montreal and Vancouver, Brodt switched into education in 2008. While working in a variety of roles in Jewish day schools, Brodt, or Mar Abba, as his students call him, completed a master’s at Yeshiva University’s Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration.

Brodt’s goals as a Jewish educator are to help educate and inspire the next generation of Jewish leaders and visionaries. He believes that the best Jewish education blends a love of Yiddishkeit, content and skill development, while promoting and developing the following three attributes in students: critical thinking, creativity and compassion.

Celebrating Nursing Week

Left to right, Nicole Encarnacion, Rebecca Fernandez and Jennifer Belen were among those fêted at Louis Brier Home and Hospital on May 9 during Nursing Week. (photo by Dolores Luber)

“I think one’s feelings waste themselves in words; they ought all to be distilled into actions which bring results.” – Florence Nightingale

The Dr. Irving and Phyliss Snider Campus for Jewish Seniors – the Louis Brier Home and Hospital and the Weinberg Residence – held a party on May 9 to celebrate National Nursing Week.

Louis Brier chief executive officer David Keselman, at the helm for nine months now, initiated the celebration – the first time in its history that Louis Brier has marked the occasion. There are plenty of reasons to celebrate the profession daily, but National Nursing Week presents the chance to give back to these integral members of society. International Nursing Day, May 12, is the anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale, who is widely considered the founder of modern nursing.

photo - Chief executive officer of Louis Brier Home and Hospital David Keselman with, left to right, Leonora Calingasan, Rebecca Fernandez, Flora Hayward, Nicole Encarnacion and Jennifer Belen — Chief executive officer of Louis Brier Home and Hospital David Keselman with, left to right, Leonora Calingasan, Rebecca Fernandez, Flora Hayward, Nicole Encarnacion and Jennifer Belen. *(photo by Dolores Luber)*

In coordination with Angela Millar, executive leader, resident care services, at Louis Brier, the festivities honoured and expressed appreciation and affection for the nurses who support and care for the home’s 215 residents. The continuum of care includes assisted living and multi-level care. Louis Brier provides 24-hour nursing services for residents who require personal assistance or full nursing support, and also has a separate unit for those residents living with moderate to severe dementia.

Louis Brier’s goal is “excellence in geriatric nursing care.” As a teaching facility, Louis Brier regularly hosts students from accredited nursing schools, which helps them keep on top of current best practices.

Nicole Encarnacion, clinical care coordinator and educator, was my guide to the festivities, to the nurses, staff and residents. The Nursing Week event on May 9 had the theme of “This is Nursing: Unexpected Places, Real Impact.”

The home’s commitment to resident and family-centred care was evident throughout the facility. The entry hall was splendid with posters and banners created by residents and staff. The nurses were dressed in their formal white uniforms, with black, navy blue or green stripes on their caps. They were excited and pleased to be singled out, paid attention to and appreciated for their service. Millar gave out 30 certificates honouring their years of nursing, the longest being 39 years of service. Three nurses were given special consideration with a bouquet of flowers. In every corner, there were expressions of affection, cooperation and goodwill, hugs, smiles and group photos.

Dolores Luber, a retired psychotherapist and psychology teacher, is editor of Jewish Seniors Alliance’s Senior Line magazine and website (jsalliance.org). She blogs for yossilinks.com and writes movie reviews for the Isaac Waldman Jewish Public Library website.

B.C. election roundup

In his pre-election interview with the Jewish Independent, B.C. Green party leader Andrew Weaver acknowledged his ideal scenario might be to hold the balance of power in a minority legislature.

The results of the May 9 election were in fact so tight that the outcome will not be known until at least May 24, and even then additional recounts may hold up final determination of what the new government will look like. Pending the counting of absentee ballots and at least two judicial recounts, the results have the incumbent B.C. Liberals under Premier Christy Clark with 43 seats, the NDP under John Horgan 41 and the Greens with three seats.

For Jewish community members running in the election (and profiled by the Independent prior to the vote), the results were a draw. New Democrat George Heyman, MLA for Vancouver-Fairview, was re-elected, defeating another member of the Jewish community, Liberal Gabe Garfinkel.

Green candidate Michael Barkusky was defeated in Vancouver-Quilchena. And, in Coquitlam-Maillardville, New Democrat Selina Robinson was re-elected, defeating her Liberal challenger by about 2,500 votes – a comparative landslide compared with her 2013 margin of 41 votes, which was the closest race in the province.

Vancouver-Langara Liberal MLA Moira Stilwell did not seek re-election.

Caring for our seniors

Louis Brier Home and Hospital. (photo from cjnews.com)

“Louis Brier offers our residents variety in programming and services, as well as safe and quality care. Residents and families remain the primary decision-makers for the care received, as resident and family-centred care is at the core of our goals. All care is governed by our Jewish and professional values and standards of excellence,” Angela Millar told the Independent.

Millar is the director of quality and risk management, accreditation and resident experience for the Louis Brier Home and Hospital and Weinberg Residence. She was responding to questions from the Jewish Independent about the 2017 British Columbia Residential Care Facilities Quick Facts Directory, published by the Office of the Seniors Advocate (OSA). The directory “lists information for 292 publicly subsidized facilities in British Columbia that offer residential care services to seniors,” including Louis Brier.

The information was “gathered primarily from residential care facilities, health authorities, the Ministry of Health and the Canadian Institute for Health Information.” The data on licensing incidents and complaints is from the 2015-16 fiscal year, while the “inspection data was a snapshot taken on Dec. 7, 2016.” The 2017 OSA report can be found at seniorsadvocatebc.ca and the most recent inspection information from Vancouver Coastal Health at inspections.vcha.ca.

Millar explained, “Louis Brier is an affiliate of Vancouver Coastal Health, providing residential care for seniors. Vancouver Coastal Health provides an annual operating budget and Louis Brier Home and Hospital also receives donations from the Louis Brier Jewish Aged Foundation, which provides music and art therapy, Jewish culture and synagogue, kosher food and supplementation of medical equipment.”

The OSA directory mentions the Louis Brier Jewish Residence Society, as well as separate resident and family councils.

“The resident council represents the seniors who live at Louis Brier, ensuring they have a voice in how their home is run,” said Millar. “The council is supported by staff and meets monthly to discuss concerns, develop suggestions and plan activities. The executive director of resident care services and the chief executive officer attend meetings to provide updates, answer questions and develop plans to address concerns where needed.

“The family council is an independent group of family members and friends who meet monthly to support each other and advocate for the seniors residing at Louis Brier. A staff member liaises with the council and senior management team, who are often invited as guests. The family council acts as a forum to share experiences, learn and exchange information.”

In the 2017 OSA directory’s statistics on care services and quality, Louis Brier performed better than the B.C. average in percent of residents receiving physical therapy (34.3% versus 13.2%) and occupational therapy (10.3% versus 7.6%) but not in percent of patients receiving recreation therapy (1.1% versus 27.9%). With different percentages, Louis Brier fared similarly in the OSA’s 2016 report.

Noting that the data collected for the OSA report is “a snapshot at one time in a period,” Millar said, “I believe that the data is collected utilizing a seven-day observation tool throughout only one week in a quarter. Of course, my personal concerns are related to the validity and reliability of the data that is reported and thus the ability to generalize or glean valuable information from that data.

“My concerns aside, data collection is only looking at therapeutic interactions of the rehab team with residents – one PT/OT [physical or occupational therapist] per four residents and one rec therapist per eight residents – unfortunately rehab and rec resources [do] not abound, and our aim is to maximize the outcome and benefit to as many residents as possible given the resources that we have. As such, many of our programs and interventions are designed to accommodate larger groups of residents and most likely beyond the guidelines of the seniors advocate data collection parameters. It would help to understand how these parameters have been established and whether they have been evaluated for reliability in terms of producing valid data to help draw conclusions in relations to quality of care and residents’ outcomes.”

Millar emailed the home’s May recreation calendar, which can be found at louisbrier.com/events, “as an example of the plentiful and very rich programming that we are proud to provide our residents.”

In the 2017 directory, Louis Brier fares better than the provincial average in many areas: there were no substantiated licensing complaints and no reported incidents of disease outbreak or occurrence, abuse or neglect, food poisoning, medication errors or missing or wandering persons. With respect to falls with injury or adverse event, there were 5.1 per 100 beds, compared to a B.C. average of 11.9; and, in the category of other injury, 1.4 per 100 beds at Louis Brier compared to a provincial average of 1.6.

There is only one measure in which Louis Brier fared lower than the provincial average in the 2017 directory. In the year examined, there were nine reported incidents of aggression between persons in care at Louis Brier, or 4.2 per 100 beds, as compared to the provincial average of 1.5 per 100 beds; the 2016 OSA directory lists zero such incidents at the home.

With respect to four other quality measures, Louis Brier fared better or comparable to the provincial averages in three areas – percentages of residents diagnosed with depression, residents receiving depression medication and use of daily physical restraints. However, with respect to the percent taking antipsychotics without a diagnosis of psychosis, 40.8% of Louis Brier residents who were taking antipsychotic medications had not received a diagnosis of psychosis, compared with the B.C. average of 26.9% in the 2017 report, and 41% versus 31% in the 2016 report. As well, the OSA directory reports that, while 16.2% of Louis Brier residents had been diagnosed with depression, 48.1% of residents were receiving depression medication; in the 2016 directory, the respective figures were 21.1% diagnosed and 52.3% receiving depression medication.

“Your specific question with regards to prescription of specific treatments, medications and diagnoses is not something that can be responded to in a simple way…. While nursing staff are responsible to deliver care to the residents every day of the year, they, however, have limited control on what and how medications are prescribed and why,” said Millar. “Nurses advocate on behalf of the residents and may raise questions and awareness, however, changing physician practice or implementing best practices as it is related to the medical field and residential care are an entirely different area for discussion and attention. To understand and evaluate whether medications and treatment are prescribed appropriately requires a comprehensive approach by both the nursing and medical staff. We are certainly committed to ensure our residents receive safe, quality care and are continually monitoring medications and treatments as possible.”

Millar explained, “Louis Brier is regulated by the Community Care and Assisted Living Act, as well as the Hospital Act, which is enforced by Community Care Facilities Licensing.

“Currently the facility is showing its commitment to quality care by preparing for an Accreditation Canada Survey in May of 2018. Accreditation Canada will assess our organization against standards of excellence with regards to leadership, long-term care, medication management, infection control and governance.”

She described Accreditation Canada as “a significant wealth of information and resource for organizations in their quest to improve and achieve the highest level of care and quality possible within the industry” and invited the Independent and its readers to the Louis Brier Accreditation Fair on May 23 “to learn more and see how you can get involved.”

Millar noted that Louis Brier also has “just developed a quality and risk portfolio including a director of quality and risk management [QRM], manager of QRM, an infection control practitioner, as well as a QRM coordinator. Within this team, there are also individuals responsible for resident experience, including social work, volunteer coordinator and the manager of the companion program.”

As for staffing levels overall, Millar said, “I believe that there could never be enough staff and resources; however, we do have to work within our funding boundaries, given what we have. We can say with great confidence that Louis Brier has, most likely, more resources in terms of rehab and recreation staff than many other organizations (mainly because we are so greatly supported by the Louis Brier Foundation): we have over 300 volunteers and over 100 companions that help us deliver outstanding care to all of our residents. To that end, Louis Brier shares a common goal with the seniors advocate – of providing safe, quality care to our elders. Furthermore, Louis Brier certainly supports the efforts and intention of the seniors advocate in evaluating and advocating for additional resources to be allocated to the long-term care sector to help providers support and deliver excellent care to our seniors.”

Judaism’s importance

Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks speaks at Congregation Schara Tzedeck on April 28. (photo by Cynthia Ramsay)

“There is one thing about Judaism for which we were mocked for centuries, whose wisdom is just becoming clear in the 21st century,” Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks told a packed Schara Tzedeck synagogue on April 28, after describing the world as “a terribly dangerous place” in which religion has “returned in some of its most violent and aggressive forms.”

“We did not try to conquer or convert the world,” he explained. “Why? Because we believe that God made a covenant with Noah before he made a covenant with Abraham and, therefore, you don’t have to be a child of Abraham to be in a relationship with the Holy One, blessed be He.

“We believe that the righteous of every nation have a share in the World to Come and, therefore, we never sought to conquer or convert the world. Christianity and Islam sought to become, and did become, world powers, and they achieved great things, but right now their clash, which is threatening in some ways to take us back into the age of crusades, is so dangerous because our powers of destruction are so great.”

Sacks was introduced to the crowd of approximately 700 people by Schara Tzedeck Rabbi Andrew Rosenblatt, who talked about Sacks’ importance as an embodiment of the ethos of Modern Orthodoxy, which Rosenblatt said combines fidelity to Orthodox tradition with openness to the world. He commented on Sacks’ ability to bring Jews of all kinds together, quipping, “Tonight, we have here rabbis from all stretches of Oak Street.”

That was far from the only joke of the evening. When Sacks, who lives in London, England, took the stage, he asked the audience to forgive him if he rambled a bit, saying, “In my body clock it is now almost two in the morning and I am feeling very much like the man who once dreamt he was giving a speech in the House of Lords and woke up to discover that he was.”

After saluting the relative unity of the Vancouver Jewish community, Sacks took up his theme, which was the value of Judaism to both Jews and non-Jews, and the need for Jews to move confidently in the world as ambassadors of Jewish wisdom.

He noted how often it seems that non-Jews appreciate our strengths more than we do, and then he focused on seven things he felt Judaism has to offer the world: a sense of purposeful identity; a strength of community; the centrality of family; the prioritization of the intellect; a belief in the dignity of difference and an acceptance of religious and cultural pluralism; the sacred value of protest; and the importance of hope.

Sacks spoke of the essential human need for identity, pointing out that Moses’ first question to God was, “Who am I?”

Of community, the rabbi cited research showing that “regular attendance at a house of worship extends your lifespan by seven years.” He followed this up with a joke, saying that he told his wife, Elaine, “Maybe it just feels as though your lifespan has been extended by seven years.”

With regards to family, Sacks shared the story of taking Penelope Leech, a childcare expert in the United Kingdom, to a Jewish school in London on a Friday morning. There they watched a mock Shabbat, complete with “5-year-old abba and ima, 5-year-old baba and zaida shepping naches [feeling proud].”

Sacks said Leech asked one of the boys, “What do you not like and like about Shabbes the most?” The boy responded, “What I don’t like is not getting to watch TV! What I do like is it’s the only time Daddy doesn’t have to rush off.”

Leech apparently told Sacks, “that Sabbath of yours is saving their parents’ marriages.”

To illustrate Judaism’s appreciation of the intellect, Sacks told the well-known story of Nobel laureate physicist Isidor Isaac Rabi, who said his mother had made him a scientist by asking him every day when he came home from school not ‘what did you learn today?’ but ‘Izzy, hot du fregn a gut kashya [did you ask a good question]?’ What do we teach our children?” asked Sacks. “The Four Questions. Do you know how rare that is, to teach your children to question?”

Addressing one of his favourite themes, the dignity of difference, Sacks said, “You will meet with more diversity on a city street in one hour today than an 18th-century anthropologist would in a lifetime. We have to live with difference; we have to learn to respect difference. We have learned that the miracle of monotheism is not ‘one God, one people, one book’ – the miracle of monotheism is that it is the unity up there creates diversity down here.”

On his sixth point, Sacks said, “Many faiths teach the virtue of acceptance – yes, there’s injustice and suffering in the world, but in Olam Haba, in the World to Come, it will be OK; or, in Nirvana, where you escape from the sufferings of the world. Judaism is a religion not of acceptance but of protest.” Rather than accepting the pain and injustice in the world, God tells us to be partners in making the world a better place, he said.

And, lastly, Sacks described Judaism as “the voice of hope in the human conversation.”

“Optimism is the belief that things are going to get better,” he said. “Hope is the belief that, if we work hard enough, we can make things better. It takes no courage, just a kind of naiveté, to be an optimist. It takes great courage to have hope. Let us go out and do what we are called to do, to be Hashem’s ambassadors to the world. Let us, and not only non-Jews, recognize the value of what it is we’ve got.”

Sacks’ talk, which was sponsored in part by Cathy and David Golden to mark their 30th anniversary, was followed by services and dinner.

Matthew Gindin is a freelance journalist, writer and lecturer. He writes regularly for the Forward and All That Is Interesting, and has been published in Religion Dispatches, Situate Magazine, Tikkun and elsewhere. He can be found on Medium and Twitter.

Yom Hashoah at KDHS

The Sir Charles Tupper Secondary School Grade 11 history class for which King David High School teacher Anna-Mae Wiesenthal (middle row, second from the right), did a presentation on the Holocaust. Their teacher, Bonnie Burnell, is to Wiesenthal’s left. (photo from Anna-Mae Wiesenthal)

“They were in awe of the Holocaust survivor,” said Bonnie Burnell, a teacher at Sir Charles Tupper Secondary, describing the reaction of her students to survivor Robbie Waisman’s talk at a Yom Hashoah assembly at King David High School (KDHS) on April 24. “Looking at him as he spoke at the podium, they could scarcely imagine him on the inside of a Nazi concentration camp.”

Students from Prince of Wales Secondary School and, of course, from KDHS also joined the assembly, which was organized by KDHS teachers Anna-Mae Wiesenthal and Aron Rosenberg, and included Cantor Yaakov Orzech chanting El Malei Rachamim.

The multi-school initiative was led by Wiesenthal, who is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Holocaust and genocide studies. Last year, she went to Austria and Poland with the Sarah and Chaim Neuberger Holocaust Education Centre of Toronto. In addition to teaching about the Holocaust at KDHS, she has been giving presentations at various public schools. She told the Jewish Independent that students have been very engaged and have asked many questions. This outreach led to the recent assembly at KDHS, where other schools’ students were invited to attend.

photo - Holocaust survivor Robbie Waisman addresses the assembly for Yom Hashoah at King David High School on April 24 — Holocaust survivor Robbie Waisman addresses the assembly for Yom Hashoah at King David High School on April 24. *(photo from Anna-Mae Wiesenthal)*

“My students, in general, were impressed with the ceremony and glad that they had made the decision to come,” Burnell said. “We have had a real focus on racism in our curriculum this year, and this visit definitely adds something of central importance to that subject.”

Wiesenthal, who has taught at KDHS since 2006, became interested in focusing more on Holocaust education after attending an educators seminar at Yad Vashem in 2012.

“I feel Holocaust education is about giving voice to the millions of victims who were murdered simply because of who they were, and honouring their legacy and our history,” explained Wiesenthal. “It is about remembering the vibrancy of Jewish life both before and after the war. It is about preserving memory for future generations and across cultures. It is about taking the knowledge of unprecedented horrors, and keeping them in front of us so that we remain vigilant about our humanity in the face of genocides today.”

Wiesenthal also admitted to being inspired by a possible kinship with renowned Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal. Her great-grandfather, Mattityahu Wiesenthal, was a Russian boy saved from forced conscription in the Russian army by being “thrown across the river” from Russia into the town of Skala in Austria-Hungary, as many boys were at that time. As an orphan in Skala, he was taken in by Moshe Efroyim Wiesenthal, who supported many such refugee orphans, and the young boy took the family name Wiesenthal to honour his patron. Wiesenthal does not know if Moshe Efroyim was directly related to Simon Wiesenthal, but the latter remains one of her heroes, and she has been in touch with his granddaughter, Racheli Kreisberg.

Wiesenthal also recently initiated a pilot project at the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre (VHEC), in which KDHS students trained as docents (museum guides) lead other students through the exhibit.

Another project was an art exhibit at KDHS, where her Jewish History 11 class viewed a video of a Holocaust survivor’s testimony, chose an aspect of the testimony that stood out for them and then created a work of art based on that aspect. Each work was accompanied by an artist’s statement, a picture of the survivor and why the student chose the testimony they did. Contributions included painting, sculpture, writing and music. “The quality of expression was very moving,” said Wiesenthal.

Rabbi Stephen Berger, head of Judaic studies at KDHS, said he is thrilled with the work Wiesenthal has been doing.

“She shares her passion with her students and fulfils the talmudic dictum, ‘Words that leave from the heart, penetrate the heart,’” he said. “Our school and students benefit immeasurably by having her as a teacher of history and Holocaust studies.”

Docs cover range of topics

The Jewish Seniors Alliance Spring Forum featured Dr. Saul Isserow, left, and Dr. Larry Goldenberg. (photos by Binny Goldman)

“If I had known I was going to live so long, I’d have taken better care of myself” – Eubie Blake

Approximately 120 people attended the Jewish Seniors Alliance Spring Forum on May 7 at the Peretz Centre for Secular Jewish Culture. Called Ask the Doctors, it featured Dr. Saul Isserow and Dr. Larry Goldenberg, who were ready to answer the audience’s many questions.

JSA president Ken Levitt welcomed the crowd, thanked them for giving up a sunny gardening day to attend the workshop and support the JSA, whose new motto is “Seniors, Stronger Together.” He explained that, in joining together and striving for common causes, we are stronger.

photo - Jewish Seniors Alliance first vice-president Gyda Chud, left, president Ken Levitt at the JSA’s Ask the Doctors forum on May 7 — Jewish Seniors Alliance first vice-president Gyda Chud, left, president Ken Levitt at the JSA’s Ask the Doctors forum on May 7. *(photo by Binny Goldman)*

Gyda Chud, first vice-president of JSA, introduced Isserow, who is the director of cardiovascular health at Vancouver General Hospital and of cardiology services at the University of British Columbia Hospital, as well as the medical director of Vancouver Coastal Health’s Healthy Heart Program, among other things. She also introduced Goldenberg, whose many credentials include the founding of several programs, such as the Vancouver Prostate Centre, where he is director of development and supportive care, and the Canadian Men’s Health Foundation; he is also a professor in the department of urologic sciences at UBC. Goldenberg was inducted into the Order of British Columbia in 2006, awarded the Order of Canada in 2009 and received the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012.

Isserow’s topic was How to Stay Away from the Chevra Kadisha (the Jewish Burial Society). He started his talk with humour – saying that the man who asks the best question will win a finger up his tuches (bum) by Goldenberg, referring to a prostate exam – and used humour throughout to make the sad facts of aging more palatable.

Using slides to illustrate his points, Isserow stated that hardening of the arteries starts when we are young. He likened the process to a bagel, which begins to harden on the perimeter. When the blockage reaches the centre of the “bagel,” that is when the heart attack occurs. To keep things in perspective, he described life as “a sexually transmitted disease with 100% mortality.”

He discussed many risk factors: age, obesity, genetics, hypertension and smoking. He strongly suggested that diet and exercise could halt or reverse immediate risks but, unfortunately, there are no reliable warnings and heart attacks come out of the blue.

Movement is strongly encouraged, said Isserow. Just walking 10 minutes a day is a start to reducing the risk of diabetes and obesity. Walking one hour a day can reduce the risk of heart disease by 35%, he said, and the Mediterranean diet of fresh vegetables and fruit, healthy fats and whole grains, can improve health by 27%.

Isserow presented studies showing that aspirin reduces heart disease significantly. Although statins may be necessary, there are possible side effects, such as aches and pains, he said. He ended his talk by saying that health is up to the individual: walk once a day, eat well and take medications as required, when the risk is high.

Goldenberg said that one reason men die 4.4 years younger than women is the “I will not, cannot, Sam I am” syndrome, paraphrasing lines from the children’s book Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss. Many men are unwilling to reduce their drinking, smoking and/or poor eating habits, he said.

The government is trying to develop expertise in communicating effectively with men about their health, connecting with them in a way that creates the space, freedom and encouragement for positive changes in their health awareness, attitude and behaviours, said Goldenberg.

Doctors are increasing awareness with the slogan of “precision, prevention and preemptive,” he said, recommending precision and personalized communication in telling men what you want them to hear. Get males to engage in their health discussions, he suggested.

In an effort to increase engagement, Goldenberg initiated the website dontchangemuch.ca. He gave a few examples of small changes that would help: ordering half a salad and half fries, parking the car further away from your destination and walking an extra block or two.

He also referred to the Canadian Men’s Health Foundation’s youcheck.ca, “a health awareness tool built specifically for men,” according to its homepage, and he spoke of “manopause” – aging and a lower level of testosterone lead to a lower libido, crankiness, fatigue and the onset of heart and bone disease. Low testosterone has an impact on the body but there is no consensus as to solutions, said Goldenberg. Doctors need to monitor any symptoms that seem worrying, he said, adding that men need women to guide them and to emphasize that their behaviour can be changed.

An active question period followed. In no particular order, some of the responses included the following.

Aspirin can reduce blood clotting, as can diet and exercise. If you are doing all things right but your CT scan shows calcified plaque, then focus on diet, exercise and statins. People should have a base line for everything – having a colonoscopy or, for men, a test for PSA (prostate-specific antigen) levels, for example – and be aware of family history.

Tiredness could be the result of sleep disturbance, low mood or loneliness, but heart health should be checked. Beta blockers can cause fatigue because of a reduction of blood flow.

Stress management is critically important and stress levels can be related to many things: mental and physical well-being and reduction of cholesterol. Sex is healthy for overall well-being.

After the session ended, Larry Shapiro, second vice-president of JSA, presented the doctors with tokens of appreciation. Continuing with the humour that had been present all afternoon, he said, “Vive la différence!” referring to the many differences between men and women and their approaches to health.

Chud said she had seen a sign in the Weinberg Residence saying, “Never live in a community where there are no doctors,” and she wanted to add “a community without Drs. Isserow and Goldenberg.”

Stan Shear videotaped the forum, and JSA staff and volunteers deserve kudos for putting it all together.

Binny Goldman is a member of the Jewish Seniors Alliance of Greater Vancouver board.

Soccer unites people

The Tibet Women’s Soccer Team will compete at the 2017 Vancouver International Soccer Festival as special guests and as ambassadors of peace. (photo from One Team United)

One Team United for Peace and Development Society recently announced that the Tibet women’s soccer team will compete at the 2017 Vancouver International Soccer Festival (VISF) as special guests and ambassadors of peace. This is the first Tibetan women’s team of any sport to compete internationally.

The Canadian embassy in New Delhi, India, has granted the team travel visas to Vancouver for the 13th annual festival, which takes place June 30 to July 12. The team of 15 Tibetan women welcomed the successful invitation following the Feb. 24 disappointment when they were denied tourist visas by the U.S. embassy in New Delhi to attend the Dallas Cup in Texas.

After a video of the young athletes reading a letter in front of the embassy asking for help went viral, politicians, athletes, attorneys and human rights advocates around the world reached out to the team and urged for a reversal of the decision. The story appeared on many television and radio programs and in various newspapers in the United States and the United Kingdom. However, the decision to deny entry remained firm.

“At Vancouver’s One Team United for Peace and Development Society and the VISF, we believe that soccer has an incredible power which can be used to build bridges between cultures, strengthen communities, create long-lasting friendships and bring our global community closer together,” said Adri Hamael, founder and executive director of the society and its showcase VISF event. “Our invitation to the Tibet women’s soccer team is extended in the spirit of this mandate. I am deeply touched by the team’s inspiring story. As a father of a little girl, for me it is about affording girls and women the opportunity to compete and be treated as equals.”

The Tibet team will be co-sponsored by VISF 2017 and the One Team society. Among the supporters of the team’s visit is Simpson Thomas & Associates. Jewish community member Bernie Simpson is on One Team United’s board of advisors.

“My friendship with Bernie started years ago,” Hamael told the Independent. “I am a Palestinian Canadian, Bernie is Jewish, however, Bernie and I share a common goal: to help others and create a better world…. Many speak about making a difference, few dedicate their lives and resources to making it a reality – my friend Bernie is one of the few.”

In addition to competing in the soccer tournament July 7-9, the women’s team will participate in friendly matches with local soccer teams and will be invited to enjoy the many cultural and sightseeing opportunities Vancouver has to offer.

During the team’s stay in Vancouver, they will be working with Canada’s Sport Hall of Fame inductee Andrea Neil. A pioneer of women’s soccer in Canada, Neil spent 20 years with the national team as a player and assistant coach. Currently, she works in the Vancouver area with former men’s national team player Nick Dasovic at Dasovic-Neil Coaching, where they provide individualized soccer programming and training to elite athletes.

For more information, visit oneteamunited.ca.

Student vote result different

More than 170,000 elementary and high school students participated in CIVIX’s Student Vote program for the 2017 B.C. provincial election. (image from CIVIX)

More than 170,000 elementary and high school students participated in the Student Vote program for the 2017 B.C. provincial election, including students from King David High School and Richmond Jewish Day School.

After learning about the electoral process, researching the parties and platforms, and debating the future of British Columbia, students cast ballots for the official candidates running in their local electoral district.

As of 4:15 p.m. on election day, May 9, 1,092 schools had reported their election results, representing all 87 electoral districts in the province. In total, 170,238 ballots were cast by student participants; 163,923 valid votes and 6,315 rejected votes.

Students elected John Horgan and the B.C. NDP to form government with 60 out of 87 seats and 39.0% of the vote. Horgan won in his electoral district of Langford-Juan de Fuca with 55.7% of the vote.

Andrew Weaver and the B.C. Greens took 14 seats and would form the official opposition, receiving 28.5% of the popular vote. Weaver won in his electoral district of Oak Bay-Gordon Head with 48.9% of the vote.

Christy Clark and the B.C. Liberals won 12 seats and received 25.4% of the vote. She was defeated in her district of Kelowna West by NDP candidate Shelley Cook; Clark receiving 32.1% of votes cast, compared to Cook’s 35.8%.

Students also elected independent candidate Nicholas Wong in Delta South. Wong defeated Liberal candidate Ian Paton by 10 votes.

This is the fourth provincial-level Student Vote project conducted in British Columbia. In the 2013 provincial election, 101,627 students participated from 766 schools.

Student Vote is the flagship program of CIVIX, a national civic education charity. CIVIX provides learning opportunities to help young Canadians practise their rights and responsibilities as citizens and connect with their democratic institutions. Its programming focuses on the themes of elections, government budgets and elected representatives.

The Student Vote project for the 2017 B.C. provincial election was conducted in partnership with Elections BC and with support from the Vancouver Foundation, the B.C. Teachers’ Federation and the Government of Canada.

End-time visions

Are we living in the “end times”? Many would agree that, some days, it feels like it. Vancouver School of Theology’s Inter-Religious Studies program will host an apocalyptically themed conference this month called Visions of the End Times. Presenters will invite attendees to explore their fears and hopes for the future.

As part of the conference, which runs May 23-25, the keynote speaker, psychologist Dr. Lionel Corbett, will give a free public lecture. In the May 23 talk, Corbett will discuss the psychology of apocalyptic thinking and religious violence.

On the mornings of May 24 and 25, more than a dozen regional scholars will speak about concepts of the “end times” found in sacred texts, film, popular music and contemporary culture. Afternoon activities will include a multifaith panel of local religious leaders and a creative writing workshop.

The conference had its genesis about three months before the U.S. election in a conversation between Rabbi Laura Duhan Kaplan, the director of Inter-Religious Studies at VST, and Harry Maier, professor of New Testament and early Christianity studies. The two professors contemplated why zombies are such a popular motif in contemporary culture. Are they a metaphor for soul-less humanity, for consumer culture consuming itself or a political world that has no awareness or conscience? This led to a discussion of the possibility of an academic conference on zombies in popular culture.

“Then,” Duhan Kaplan explained to the Jewish Independent, “we remembered we’re faculty at a theology school, and that zombies sort of appear in the Bible, in Ezekiel’s prophecy about the resurrection of the dead. So, we broadened the topic to Visions of the End Times and made the conference a VST project.”

Duhan Kaplan said she expects the conference will yield lively discussion. “My prediction for the thread that runs through the conference [is that] we will debate whether the world is getting worse or better, or heading in any direction at all.”

She said speakers will address topics such as extremism and religious violence, visions of the end times articulated by religious traditions, the meaning of end-times themes in music and film, the nature of utopian thinking, and a deeper look at end-times teachings in Jewish, Christian and Muslim scriptures. There will also be an open mic Tuesday evening featuring music and poetry of the end times, which Kaplan hopes will be “whimsical and fun.”

“I do believe that eschatological concepts [ideas resulting from the study of the end times] are helpful metaphors,” she said. “They place even terrible events into a hopeful vision. When something bad happens, they say, ‘Don’t worry, it’s just a blip on the way to a good end.’ For example, when something bad happens, many Jews say, ‘These are the footsteps of Mashiach.’ Personally, I take great comfort in Isaiah’s vision that ‘the lion will lie down with the lamb.’

“I don’t think human beings will ever make a [peace] treaty that holds indefinitely,” she continued. “But, while peace holds, people do experience a bit of ‘the World to Come,’ as we sometimes call the end times in Jewish thought.”

Corbett’s public talk is at 7 p.m. on May 23 at Chapel of the Epiphany on the University of British Columbia campus. For more information, visit vst.edu/event/vision-of-the-end-times-an-inter-religious-conference.