{"id":28101,"date":"2018-03-09T03:47:45","date_gmt":"2018-03-09T11:47:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=28101"},"modified":"2018-03-07T17:37:39","modified_gmt":"2018-03-08T01:37:39","slug":"albertas-jewish-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2018\/03\/09\/albertas-jewish-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Alberta\u2019s Jewish home"},"content":{"rendered":"

On the 14th floor of Edmonton\u2019s Our Parents\u2019 Home, one can enjoy panoramic views. (photo from OPH)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

In 2015, Edmonton opened Our Parents\u2019 Home (OPH), still the only kosher seniors home between Winnipeg and Vancouver. OPH offers 80 independent living suites and 50 Alberta Health Services supportive-living units.<\/p>\n

Lesley Jacobson assisted Irving Kipnes on the project for more than a decade, until recently retiring.<\/p>\n

Jacobson grew up in Sydney, Australia. She made her way to Calgary in the early 1970s, a place she called home for 27 years, before moving to Edmonton some 20 years ago. \u201cI was always involved in [Jewish] federations in some way or the other,\u201d she told the Independent<\/em>.<\/p>\n

About 12 years ago, Jacobson began working for Delcon Development, which was founded by Kipnes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIrv is one of the major proponents of this [OPH] project, and has been on the committee working to develop this facility for over 20 years,\u201d said Jacobson.<\/p>\n

The project was incorporated as a nonprofit organization under the Society Act of Canada in 1996, and obtained a charitable number from Revenue Canada that same year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t until about a dozen years ago, after fundraising and much discussion about what the project should entail that the committee determined to move ahead,\u201d said Jacobson. \u201cIrv took the lead in that, and started investigating sites and plans seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n

The committee included Jewish community members who felt it was important that Edmonton have a facility that caters to the needs of Jewish seniors.<\/p>\n

It took several false starts before a site was secured, detailed drawings were developed and a $6 million grant was secured under the Affordable Supportive Living Initiative of the Alberta government at the time. Construction began in 2012 in a prime location on Jasper Avenue, at the corner of 119th Street, next door to Beth Shalom Synagogue.<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
Our Parents\u2019 Home in Edmonton opened in 2015. (photo from OPH)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The original name chosen was the Hebrew, Beit Horim<\/em>, which means Our Parents\u2019 Home. \u201cOnce we started building and dealing with contractors, banks, etc. \u2026 many of the non-Jewish professionals who we were working with had trouble with the pronunciation…. So, we dropped the Beit Horim and just became Our Parents\u2019 Home,\u201d said Jacobson.<\/p>\n

While the residence caters to Jewish seniors wanting a place to live where they can keep kosher, the home does offer menu options for people of all religions and has a non-kosher kitchen as well.<\/p>\n

At press time, there were 17 independent living suites available (one- and two-bedroom apartments), while the supportive-living space \u2013 the units overseen by Alberta Health Services \u2013 was running at full capacity.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have a two-year waiting list of people trying to get into the supportive-living space,\u201d said Jacobson. \u201cIf someone needs to be in assisted living, wants to be at OPH and they are Jewish, we try to get them to the top of the list. But, we have no control over that, because it\u2019s mandated and controlled by Alberta Health Services\u2026. On the independent living side of things, people are self-sufficient. The rent includes 20 meals per month, so people have that option … while those living in supportive care are provided with all meals and snacks.\u201d<\/p>\n

The home\u2019s 50 supportive-living units cover three floors, which are staffed by care personnel 24\/7. The two memory care floors are secured, so residents cannot leave those levels unless accompanied by someone with a fob. A third floor is for residents in need of care but with no memory issues.<\/p>\n

Since the facility is open to the general public, regardless of religion, there are varied faith-based offerings. While there is a rabbi-led Shabbat service offered on the third Friday of each month, there is also hymn singing once a month led by a non-Jewish chaplain and a variety of other programs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had beautiful seder [last] year and several non-Jewish residents of our community came, because they were interested,\u201d said Jacobson. \u201cPeople can come to whatever program they wish.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jacobson, while not on staff at OPH, worked with the staff to ensure the place became all that it was intended to be by the other committee members.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was exciting to be on the committee designing the building, to sit with the architects and interior designers,\u201d said Jacobson. \u201cWe chose designs and fabric for the furniture, picked colours and selected the china and silverware. It was a pleasure to facilitate meetings with such dedicated and enthusiastic board members.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Jacobson, when you walk into the OPH building, \u201cit\u2019s like walking into a boutique hotel. It doesn\u2019t look like an old folks\u2019 building. We have modern art on all the walls and, from the common rooms on the 14th floor, one can enjoy panoramic views of downtown Edmonton and the beautiful river valley. You walk into the dining room and it\u2019s like walking into a first-class restaurant … linens on the tables to complement the china \u2013 no paper napkins.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeniors come here to live, not to die,\u201d she stressed. \u201cDuring the summertime, we take people from the memory care floors to walk in the neighbourhood, through the green streets. There are many activities designed to physically, socially and intellectually stimulate our memory care residents.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur independent residents live the lives they\u2019ve always lived \u2013 they go to the opera or ballet, the gym, to their friends and to family. If they need a ride, we have a car that will take them. They live independent lives and, as a plus, enjoy all the extra activities provided \u2013 the book club, bridge club, fitness room, movies, social programs, etc.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people who have been involved are to be commended for their vision and enthusiasm,\u201d said Jacobson. \u201cSpecial credit needs to go to Tulane Rollingher, who conceived the idea in the very beginning, way back in the 1990s, of having a Jewish home. She was the very first person to start getting this group together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rebeca Kuropatwa<\/strong> is a Winnipeg freelance writer.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On the 14th floor of Edmonton\u2019s Our Parents\u2019 Home, one can enjoy panoramic views. (photo from OPH) In 2015, Edmonton opened Our Parents\u2019 Home (OPH), still the only kosher seniors home between Winnipeg and Vancouver. OPH offers 80 independent living suites and 50 Alberta Health Services supportive-living units. Lesley Jacobson assisted Irving Kipnes on the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28102,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[7605,7934,7935,6977,7937,7936,3714],"class_list":["post-28101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","tag-alberta","tag-assisted-living","tag-beit-horim","tag-healthcare","tag-lesley-jacobson","tag-our-parents-home","tag-seniors"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28101"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28101\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}