Orthodox Jewish community members can now turn to a new facility at the Weinberg Park Heights JCC for their health and wellness needs.
While open to all community members, the Sinai Wellness and Education Suite was designed in particular to provide the Orthodox community with a place to receive health education and services tailored to their specific religious needs, such as around modesty and privacy.
On Oct. 27, the JCC and LifeBridge Health, which collaborated to open the suite, held a ribbon-cutting and mezuzah-hanging ceremony to mark the suite’s grand opening. Speakers included Neil Meltzer, president and CEO of LifeBridge Health; Marc B. Terrill, president of The Associated: Jewish Federation of Baltimore; Barak Hermann, CEO of the JCC of Greater Baltimore; Daniel Blum, president of Sinai Hospital and Grace Medical Center; and Rabbi Yisrael Motzen of Ner Tamid Greenspring Valley Synagogue, who hung the mezuzah onto the new facility’s door frame.
“It’s really a site where folks can get both health education, wellness advice and wellness services with a special sensitivity to the Orthodox community,” Meltzer said.
Many of the programs the suite provides will focus on health and wellness education, he explained. Speakers such as physicians and nurses will come in to discuss specific clinical issues.
“It’s really going to be providing education dealing with any kind of chronic disease, such as congestive heart failure or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease,” said Meltzer, a resident of Lutherville who belongs to a Chabad house in Timonium. “There will be classes on how to eat healthy; there will potentially be cooking classes. The sky’s the limit. We’re really in the process right now of trying to ascertain what the community would benefit from but also want themselves.”
In addition, the suite will offer special exercise programs, some of which will be done in the suite while others will be held in the larger gymnasium, Meltzer said. Exercise done in the suite could involve light equipment such as exercise balls or stretchy bands.
Meltzer emphasized how exercises in the suite could provide a greater degree of privacy then might be available elsewhere.
“We do have the ability to sequester individuals in this site for sensitivity,” Meltzer said. “Some people, because of a clinical condition, or perhaps just from a gender standpoint, they’d prefer to be exercising by themselves. We will have that ability to segregate individuals in a way that they feel most comfortable.”
On how the suite is tailored to the needs of the Orthodox community, Meltzer explained how some individuals prefer to exercise or discuss specific topics in a single-gender environment. At other times, some individuals might prefer to discuss certain sensitive clinical conditions in small group settings.
“Before we embark[ed] on this initiative, we first spoke with members of the Orthodox community,” Blum said. “We didn’t want to presume to know what kinds of health services or medical conditions might be of interest. Let the community tell us.
“And here’s what we heard,” Blum continued. “Many people expressed interest in nutrition, chronic disease management, women’s health, while still ensuring a culturally sensitive approach along the way.”
Hermann said the suite represents a clear demonstration of the JCC’s commitment to the Jewish value of pikuach nefesh.
“Since the JCC began in 1854, we have always focused on the health and fitness of the Jewish community,” Hermann said. “And this aligns well with the Jewish value of pikuach nefesh, the saving of life. This Jewish principle of saving someone’s life is more sacred than any religious obligation.
“We are thrilled about what we can offer today through the new Sinai Wellness Education Suite,” Hermann continued. “We need to do everything we can to help the Jewish community take advantage of medical science available today to prevent illness [and] help our community to avail themselves of opportunities to address their concerns.”
