C. J. F. W. F. Finds Residents of Jewish Homes for Aged Live Longer

Residents of Jewish homes for the aged are generally older than in previous years, live longer, are subject to more ailments and require an increasing amount of medical care and services. These are among the major findings of the National Study of the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds on the health needs of residents of Jewish homes for the aged.

The report was issued today by Dr. Franz Goldmann, director of the four-year study on coordination of community health services. The study is sponsored by the CJFW and is financed by a grant from the United States Public Health Service.

The findings are based on a survey of five Jewish homes for the aged, four of them in the United States and the fifth in Canada, selected from the 70 homes for the aged under Jewish auspices throughout the United States and Canada. These provide quarters for a total of 11,127 residents.

Arteriosclerosis and mental impairment were found to be the most widespread ailments afflicting the aged. The greatest scourge, Dr. Goldmann declared, was mental impairment, ranging from loss of mental vigor to extreme deficiencies. At the four homes in the United States almost 70 percent of all infirmary patients were mentally confused. The Canadian home, in Toronto, accommodated their mentally confused residents in a special section.

AVERAGE AGE OF RESIDENTS IS 80; WOMEN OUTNUMBER MEN

The study revealed that the average age of the residents had risen to ’80 years. Dr. Goldmann said this is similar to the age level in non-sectarian homes and in some foreign countries, particularly England. The women outnumber the men by over 50 percent.

Two crucial questions raised by the study are: To what extent can the Jewish homes for the aged assume responsibility for the care of the mentally impaired without neglecting the needs of other ailing residents? And how can an extended psychiatric service be organized and financed?

The financial problems created by the increasing health needs of the residents are likely to grow more serious in the future, Dr. Goldmann declared. The average age in the homes will most likely continue to climb and with the added years will come increased health problems Dr. Goldmann also believed that expansion and improvement of health services will result from community pressures for adequate institutional care for more people with prolonged illness or serious impairment.

The residents cannot be expected to absorb the resultant increase in costs, he said. The economic conditions of the residents, as revealed by the study, show their dependence on both public assistance and Old Age Survivors Insurance, Forty percent are supported by public assistance and 41 percent receive OASI or the Canadian equivalent.

Very few had supplementary incomes from investments or private pensions and in almost every instance OASI payments were supplemented by payments from other sources, mostly public assistance. This added to the findings of the study which stressed the importance of adequate public assistance and especially of improved rates of payment to homes for the aged which actually perform the functions of highly developed nursing homes, Dr. Goldmann declared.

The Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds is the national association of local federations and welfare funds representing more than 800 Jewish communities through-out the United States and Canada. These central communal organizations annually raise the bulk of American Jewish philanthropic funds.