A chance encounter with a resident during the early days of the COVID-19 crisis gave Dr. Daniel Gaballa the confidence to navigate in a challenging environment.

Before COVID-19, Dr. Gaballa visited The New Jewish Home just once a month to see a small group of patients as part of his training in geriatric medicine. Having already completed training in Internal Medicine, Dr. Gaballa is now pursuing a two-year geriatrics fellowship at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. 

Birthdays are a highlight of life at The New Jewish Home. Visits from family members who come to celebrate with residents infuse energy into the entire facility. Even during the pandemic, when visitors are not permitted, thoughtful staff members have found ways to make birthday celebrations possible amidst the crisis.

While she was ill with COVID-19, Elizabeth Carroll was too weak to call her beloved daughters on her own. And her daughter Louise was filled with concern about Elizabeth’s health. Thanks to thoughtful staff members who took the time to help them FaceTime, mother and daughter were able to connect, easing their anxiety at the most stressful time.

Ruth Robbins, a Holocaust survivor and Manhattan resident who survived a diagnosis of COVID-19, has found The New Jewish Home to be a safe and welcoming place to recover. “I’m lucky to be here,” she said.

Ruth’s journey began in Salzburg, Austria in 1932. Her family was affluent and philanthropic—when she and her children visited Salzburg about 10 years ago with a group of survivors, she learned from distant relatives who still live there about her father’s generosity to the Jewish community’s needy members.