One of the most important and difficult of the Ten Commandments is “Honor your father and your mother.” In fact, our rabbis teach we receive an extra reward for fulfilling such a demanding expectation. It doesn’t say we have to love them, but it does say we have to honor them. The ones who give life deserve such respect.
Jody Sherman, President and Executive Director of AAA T.L.C., faced this overwhelming moment in 1981, when both her parents were struck with devastating medical challenges. With a desire to find the best care possible, she was met with a disappointing reality, good professional and individualized health care was not to be found and placing them in nursing homes was not acceptable to her.
Faced with limited choices, she embarked on what has become the great joy of her life, being able to provide responsible, loving caregiving for those in need. Doing a mitzvah brought her truly an extra reward, the ability to serve others in the same way she cared for her critically ill parents.
Jody’s personal Jewish integral values motivated the creation of one of the most respected caregiving agencies in Southern California. Staffed with trained and licensed RNS, LVNS, CNAs, Companions, Drivers, and experienced Caregivers, AAA T.L.C. has been able to serve thousands of clients with the same loving care that drove Jody (as she prefers to be called) at the beginning of her journey. Keeping it personal and welcoming makes her most comfortable. With her beloved late husband, Earl, (may his memory be for blessing), together they endeavored to bring support and love to those desiring, professional, individual, and personalized ‘at-home-care.’ Driven by what Torah teaches is a core value of Judaism, “V’ahavtah l’rey-a-cha kamocha,” “Love your neighbor as yourself,” the Sherman’s wanted to bring this ethical imperative as a foundation for what they hoped to build, “to provide our clients with the same compassion, ‘tender loving care,’ we would give our own family members, improving the health and quality of their lives – the patient, their families, and even their pets.”
Jody’s personal Jewish integral values motivated the creation of one of the most respected caregiving agencies in Southern California.
The name itself, AAA T.L.C., reflected their desire and drive the essential work ethic of each person on her staff – from nurses to caregivers, from drivers to nannies. Every person connected to Jody’s company, which now includes her son, Dr. John Sherman as Vice President, collaborates and reflects this value. The goal is to make sure quality, affordable, and competent loving care is provided for clients of all nationalities and religious affiliation. Jody has served families whose dietary needs are respected, making sure Kashrut is understood and supported by whoever is staffed in the home. Caregivers can be trained to cook and nurture just like a ‘Jewish Mother,’ offering chicken soup for body and soul. Whether Orthodox or reform, whether Caucasian or people of color, young or aged, every single client is treated with care and tenderness, remembering that each person is a reflection of the Divine.
In a year as we have had, with Covid running rampant, so many would have preferred to be in the safety of their home, limiting the exposure and loneliness that hospitalization can bring. Finding quality care is a prime need for so many. Feeling safe and comfortable while having constant empathic and experienced care is something we all desire. AAA T.L.C., available 24/7, endeavors to fulfill these needs, making sure that clients are met with compatible caregivers whose personalities and interests match those in need. As one client said, “Your caregivers responded with extraordinary team effort of devotion and commitment providing my mother with professional care, infused with genuine love, sympathy, and respect in her… final days.”
AAA T.L.C., available 24/7…making sure that clients are met with compatible caregivers whose personalities and interests match those in need.
The Talmud teaches that, “visiting the sick takes 1/60th of the illness away.” Sometimes visitors, as this year taught, may not always be allowed to fulfill their mitzvah. Having someone by your side, giving constant attention and providing whatever need is required, removes some of the pain and suffering. The great Rabbi Akiva, we read in Talmud, visited one of his students, who was sick, and is said to have “swept the floor, reviving his life.” No task is too small that serves to comfort someone who is ill and perhaps alone. Every one of Jody’s Caregivers are licensed and bonded, trained, and of course are vaccinated, to serve and fill whatever needs are required for the client. Whether providing post-operative care, facilitating a smooth transition from hospital to home, providing support for mental health disorders or palliative care during hospice, sitting in a hospital room, 24/7, with patients, providing transportation services for medical appointments, assisting in daily activities such as walking, bathing, grooming, monitoring vitals and overseeing medications, and/or relieving family members of exhausting caregiving, AAA T.L.C. is available seven days a week, 24 hours a day, to support and offer the kind of care we all hope to have in moments of dependence and fragility.
Having someone by your side, giving constant attention and providing whatever need is required, removes some of the pain and suffering.
One of the most experienced, largest, and most respected ‘Home Care’ agencies is available to you. Jody is personally available, along with her qualified in-take staff, to discuss your needs. Whether for an infant or adult, male or female, patient or family caregiver, Jody’s calling is to provide loving care, and as one client said, you “saved my husband’s life,” which she proudly says is the best compliment she has ever received. To save a life, in our tradition, is as if one saved the world.
Perhaps at this moment or sometime in the future, whenever the need exists, please check out AAA T.L.C. at www.aaatlc.com. They can be reached at 833-4-AAATLC (833-422-2852) or info@aaatlc.com.
Follow them on www.Facebook.com/aaatlchc, www.Instagram.com/aaatlchc, and www.twitter.com/aaatlchc.
Eva Robbins is a rabbi, cantor, and artist. She is the author of “Spiritual Surgery: Journey of Healing Mind, Body, and Spirit.”