Posted by: Peggy Kaufman
I am writing this in the airport in Kiev during a six-hour layover in my return travels from Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine to Boston. This marks the end of a fascinating week of meetings, interviews, and conversations to assess the feasibility of bringing some of the programs of the JF&CS Center for Early Relationship Support® (CERS) to the community of Dnepropetrovsk.
Following the fall of the Soviet Union, cries came to the Boston community from the National Council of Soviet Jewry claiming that there were Jews still in Dnepropetrovsk and their needs were overwhelming. The Boston Jewish Community Relations Council mobilized medical, education, and geriatric care professionals. JF&CS has already contributed hugely to the humanitarian efforts helping to build the Educational Resource Center for children with special needs. Our own Marsha Frankel is a hero for bringing her knowledge of geriatric mental health to the Jewish community.
As for my needs assessment, I engaged in conversations with doctors, teachers, mothers, rabbis, and fund leaders. It has been more than 22 years since the fall of the Soviet Union, yet scars are still “red”. Underpaid medical professionals do not have equipment, medicine, or staff needed to care for vulnerable newborns, young children, and their parents. The staff care deeply and are doing the best they can to save lives, yet once saved there is little, if any, follow up care and services. Women give birth and go home with no supports, resources, or networks of care. Postpartum depression is not uttered because, if identified, there is nowhere to turn.
This post has been contributed by a third party. The opinions, facts and any media content are presented solely by the author, and JewishBoston assumes no responsibility for them. Want to add your voice to the conversation? Publish your own post here. MORE