Celebrated each March, National Social Work Month is an opportunity to turn the spotlight on the important contributions social workers make to our society every single day. Our residents at The Oscar and Ella Wilf Campus for Senior Living are fortunate to be the beneficiaries of the hard work of our own social workers, who offer emotional support to our residents and their families and act as advocates for them in order to meet their needs.
Lori Dillon, MSW, LCSW, our social worker at Stein Hospice says that what she loves most about her job is that “this is not a job to me, it is participating in tikkun olam – healing people and helping them transition at end-of-life with dignity, grace, and comfort.” She adds, “This is spiritual work. It is God’s work, and I feel blessed to be able to work with an extraordinary team of Hospice professionals, because it takes a village to do this work and provide the kind of hospice care that I would want for myself or my family members.”
Lori leads our staff of social workers at Stein Hospice, which also includes Stephanie Auerbach, LCSW, Gita Zohar, LCSW, and Tammy Russ-Fishbane, LCSW.
Marnie Kean, LCSW, our social worker at The Wilentz Senior Residence, says she enjoys working with the residents and their families, “appreciating who they are and helping to meet their needs.” She adds, “We have a fantastic group of residents and pulling together support for them means a lot to me. Watching them function as a caring community is an incredible process to observe.”
Social work is a fast-growing profession with more than 680,000 social workers in the United States, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. According to the National Association of Social Workers, “Social workers are trained to look at situations in a holistic way, bringing people together with others and their communities to find ways to address pressing individual, group and societal problems such as hunger, affordable housing, equal rights for all and making organizations and government accountable.”
The 2018 Social Work Month Theme, “Social Workers: Leaders. Advocates. Champions”, is meant to inform the public about the role of social workers in helping the most vulnerable people in our society. Social workers confront some of the most challenging issues facing individuals, families, communities and society and they forge solutions that help people reach their full potential.
This month we would like to celebrate and recognize the dedication of our own social workers at The Oscar and Ella Wilf Campus for Senior Living and how they act as leaders, advocates, and champions who make our Wilf community a better place to live.
The Oscar and Ella Wilf Campus for Senior Living is comprised of Stein Assisted Living, Jaffa Gate Memory Care Neighborhood, Stein Hospice, Wilentz Senior Residence, Wilf Transport, and The Foundation at the Wilf Campus. For more information, contact us at (732) 568-1155, [email protected] or visit us at www.wilfcampus.org.