Geriatrics Course in Dnepropetrovsk

Published on September 12, 2011 by Dnepropetrovsk Kehillah Project

This past May, the JCRC, in partnership with the Dnepropetrovsk Medical Academy and the Dnepropetrovsk Jewish Community, organized a 2 day post graduate course on Geriatric Medicine. Dr. Lew Lipsitz, Chief of Gerontology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and a longtime partner of the Kehillah project (he and his wife Louise spent three months there in 2005), chaired the course. He was joined by two other distinguished Boston physicians: Dr. Eran Metzger, Associate Director of Geropsychiatry at Hebrew Rehabilitation Center, and Dr. Hillel Rosen, Clinical Director of Bone and Mineral Metabolism in the Department of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism at BIDMC. Joining them for this first-ever course in geriatrics were two other specialists: Francine Godfrey of Jewish Community Housing for the Elderly and Marsha Frankel of Jewish Family & Children Services, both of whom assisted in preparation and relationship building with the staff at Beit Baruch, Dnepropetrovsk’s elderly housing facility. In addition, Beth Moskowitz, chair of the Dnepropetrovsk Kehillah Project, and Rabbi Jim Morgan, JCRC’s Director of International Partnerships, accompanied the faculty.

The course consisted of 3 half days of lectures in which each doctor lectured on topics within their expertise to an audience of 200 local doctors. The highlight of the course was an afternoon workshop at Beit Baruch, in which the physicians interviewed four residents before an audience of 50 medical and nursing staff from the Academy as well as Beit Baruch staff. The smaller group allowed for a more interactive session, and the doctors used the cases to illustrate some of the didactic points they had made in their lectures.  The doctors also had the opportunity to learn more about the development of the community’s new geriatric clinic, which is set to open in the Fall of this year.=

While Dnepropetrovsk, Francine Godfrey also implemented a new program for Beit Baruch residents. Conductorcise has participants conduct an imaginary orchestra (using a plastic chopstick), mimicking the movements conductors would use to guide an orchestra through a performance. She also brought the program to the Educational Resource Center, a school for children with special needs. (attach picture)

This post graduate course was one of many milestones in the history of medical services partnerships with Dnepropetrovsk. Since the beginning of the Kehillah Project, Rabbi Kaminezki shared his vision for bringing a Western standard of medical care to the entire city.  Inspired by that vision, Boston doctors soon came to Dnepropetrovsk to meet with medical professionals and to learn more about the medical scene in Ukraine.

More than ten years ago, Boston and Dnepropetrovsk doctors collaborated on ambulatory public health facilities for women and children.  With funding from Combined Jewish Philanthropies and private philanthropists, we established the Corky Ribakoff Women’s Clinic and the pediatric clinic, which serve the Jewish and non-Jewish populations of Dnepropetrovsk alike. Through the provision of medical equipment and supplies, including new ultrasound machines, and medical exchanges, these clinics have transformed healthcare both for doctors and for their patients. 

Throughout the years, we have worked in close partnership with our Dnepropetrovsk partners. Every time we visit, we listen to people and make careful observations in order to determine how best to engage the expertise of our Boston doctors. Most recently, we heard from the Academy, from our partners at Beit Baruch, and from Rabbi Kaminezki that the community has a new vision for geriatric medicine, a vision that will affect not only the local community but, with any luck, the entire country. The post graduate course was a true success and a significant step for the practice of geriatric medicine in Ukraine. We are eager to continue our collaboration with all our partners in anticipation of the opening of the Geriatric clinic in the Fall of 2011.

 To learn more about the Kehillah project click here