WASHINGTON – Holocaust survivor Jack Rubin told a Senate committee Wednesday that aging Holocaust survivors in the United States are better served by home health care than care in nursing homes, which can trigger memories of being held against their will during World War II.
Rubin, a resident of Boynton Beach, Fla., testified Wednesday before the Senate Special Committee on Aging in a hearing that examined Holocaust survivors’ health and social service needs.
Holocaust survivor Jack Rubin testifies during a Senate hearing on the special needs of America’s Holocaust survivors. He advocated for improved home health care options. (Sara Olstad/Medill)
In some cases, it is difficult for Holocaust survivors to receive health care in an institutional setting, Rubin and several experts said. Jangling keys, uniformed staff, showers and bed railings have been known to trigger memories from the Holocaust and cause distress, they said.
“[Home health care is] the most important because people, when they’re taken out of their homes, they are scared,” Rubin said.
But about 25 percent of the estimated 109,000 to 140,000 Holocaust survivors in the U.S. live at or below the poverty line, according to data from the National Jewish Population Study, which makes it difficult for them to access the care that they need. The survivors’ average age is 80 years old.
Anat Bar-Cohen, of Bethesda, Md., testified that she struggled to keep her father, an Auschwitz survivor, out of a nursing home; he died in June 2009. His expenses exceeded $7,800 per month while his monthly income from German reparations and Social Security was about $1,700. In her statement, she said she feared he would experience “the terror of being once more imprisoned” if he lived in an institutionalized care facility.
Bar-Cohen also said it is important to make sure the transportation needs of Holocaust survivors living at home are met. In addition to medical visits, most are accustomed to leading social lives.
“They need each other to be a part of the world because that’s what they’ve done, they’ve made themselves part of the world.”
Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, the top Republican on the committee, said that she supports home health care. “Not only is it a more cost-effective alternative to institutional care, it also allows patients to stay just where they want to be, in the comfort, privacy and security of their own homes.”
Many Holocaust survivors now suffer from health and mental illness problems that are related to their experiences during the Holocaust, according to a 2009 study in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. For example, survivors are more likely to develop certain cancers, possibly because of their exposure to stress and famine during World War II.
Many survivors living in the U.S. do not have family members like Bar-Cohen to fight for their well-being, said Lee I. Sherman, president and CEO of the Association of Jewish Family and Children’s Agencies.
“We also see from all survivors that they don’t have as large of a family support network” as senior citizens who were born in the U.S. Many of their relatives were killed during the Holocaust and others may still be living abroad, he said.
Vice President Joe Biden announced last month that the White House plans to help Holocaust survivors living in poverty. He said the Obama administration is working to create a liaison within the Department of Health and Human Services who would connect Holocaust survivors with nonprofit organizations that serve them.
