As the fires spread on Friday, Nov. 9 in Thousand Oaks, residents from the Motion Pictures Home in Woodland Hills were among those who needed to be evacuated. It was a difficult process, requiring patients to be sent to multiple alternate locations, so Motion Pictures & Television Fund’s (MPTF) Linda Healy reached out to the Los Angeles Jewish Home (LAJH).
LAJH responded to the call and welcomed 26 patients with Alzheimer’s and dementia into their Eisenberg Village facility in Reseda.
“We are tremendously proud of the staff of the Los Angeles Jewish Home,” said Molly Forrest, CEO and president of LAJH. “Their immediate response to the need to shelter and care for the fragile seniors from the Motion Picture Home during this crisis was truly heroic. It is reflective of the quality care and compassion for which the Home is known.”
LAJH also arranged transportation to pick up – and later send home – their special guests and set up cots and supplies in their boardroom. Residents, their family members and staff from the Motion Pictures Home were greeted with matzo ball soup and a heaping dose of compassion.
Residents, their family members and staff from the Motion Pictures Home were greeted with matzo ball soup and a heaping does of compassion.
LAJH COO Larissa Stepanians said the entire staff pitched in. They joined forces to deliver and assemble cots, hold hands of residents who were confused and afraid and speak with family members. “There was such teamwork of our staff coming together,” she said.”
Stepanians, who lives with her family in Simi Valley, had to evacuate her own home, but then drove into work, as did many other LAJH staff. “What’s important for me is everyone felt safe, families were happy and we were able to care for this special group of residents,” Stepanians said. “It was a beautiful scene in a very scary situation.”
All residents from Motion Picture Home returned to their facility safely after breakfast Saturday morning.
“In [these] times, we all need to pull together as a community to support and shelter and we are very, very lucky to have you in our world,” MPTF President & CEO Bob Beitcher wrote in a thank you note to the Home. “And I hope you know that we are there for you in the event anything like this is ever needed.”