Readers’ Choice 2015:
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House & Home
Community Residence/Jewish
The Bay Area is blessed with residences that create new Jewish neighborhoods for seniors, offering comfortable accommodations, a full array of social activities and Judaica classes, freedom from home maintenance and opportunities to share celebrations. These residences put an emphasis on Jewish values while welcoming people of all faiths and ethnic backgrounds.
From its modest beginnings in 1871, the Jewish Home of San Francisco, on a nine-acre campus, has grown and diversified, serving both patients who require short-term and rehabilitation services as well as about 325 residents. Operated by a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation, the Jewish Home provides on-site physicians and acute psychiatric care, exercise and cultural programs and celebrations in a traditional Jewish setting.
An assisted-living community located within 10 minutes of the city’s cultural offerings, Rhoda Goldman Plaza provides kosher meals, stimulating activities and myriad amenities, including a beauty salon, fitness center and spacious apartments; it also houses a comprehensive memory care unit. Writes one relative: “My mom was isolated in her home and RGP provided a whole new group of friends; she is too busy to see me.”
Located in the hills of Danville, the Reutlinger Community for Jewish Living offers a variety of living options, including independent living, skilled nursing, memory care and the Tikvah Center, which offers an additional level of care to people in assisted living. Reutlinger has a full-time rabbi, an in-house synagogue, daily kosher meals, an award-winning art program and musical programs, as well as a guest-chef series.
Because the Moldaw Residences at 899 Charleston shares a campus with Palo Alto’s Oshman Family JCC, residents enjoy the fitness and swimming facilities, senior programs and excursions, cultural programs and the opportunity to interact with kids in the preschool and early childhood programs. Moldaw offers independent and assisted living and memory care, with skilled nursing available through its affiliation with the Jewish Senior Living Group.
Shalom House, a board-and-care facility in San Rafael, offers personalized assisted-living and memory care in a small, homelike facility. It provides home-cooked meals, a recreation program, medication and appointments management and transportation.
San Francisco
Jewish Home
(415) 334-2500 • www.jhsf.org
Rhoda Goldman Plaza
(415) 345-5060
www.rgplaza.org
East Bay
Reutlinger Community for Jewish Living
Danville
(925) 648-2800 • www.rcjl.org
South Bay/Peninsula
Moldaw Residences
Palo Alto
(650) 433-3600 • www.moldaw.org
North Bay
Shalom House
San Rafael
(415) 491-0604
Community Residence/Other
Readers have high praise for these community residences, which offer stimulating activities, attractive facilities and a continuum of care. They welcome people of all faiths.
San Francisco Towers, an Episcopal Senior Communities residence offering continuing care, is ideally located near the city’s many restaurants and cultural facilities, and some residents volunteer at the symphony, opera, ballet and the zoo. Wellness programs include aqua classes, tai chi, yoga, walking groups and lectures on brain health and other topics.
St. Paul’s Towers, a senior living community in Oakland, is centrally located in the hub of the historic Lakeshore district, a block from Lake Merritt and convenient to shopping, dining and theater. Also a member of the Episcopal Senior Communities, St. Paul’s Towers offers enriching programs, maintenance-free living, extensive amenities and personalized moving services.
The Peninsula Regent, within walking distance from downtown San Mateo, is designed to encourage independent, resort-style living, with gardens and walking paths, a 24-hour indoor swimming pool and spa, extensive fitness facilities and a variety of dining and apartment options. Speakers, concerts, excursions and clubs in such areas as dance, drama, bridge and gardening round out the menu.
Vi at Palo Alto, near the Stanford Shopping Center and the Stanford campus, is a deluxe continuing care retirement community, offering independent and assisted living, memory care and skilled nursing, including short- and long-term rehabilitative care. The complex includes exercise and pool facilities, a salon and spa, a putting green and walking paths, and offers a variety of classes and lectures, as well as dining and apartment options.
Situated in San Rafael, Drake Terrace is a full-service senior community offering independent, assisted-living and memory-care apartments, dining and housekeeping options, and a variety of fitness activities. As a sponsor of Marin Shakespeare Company and Novato Theater Company, Drake Terrace provides residents with free tickets and transportation.
San Francisco
San Francisco Towers
(415) 776-0500
www.jtm-esc.org/san-francisco-towers
East Bay
St. Paul’s Towers
Oakland
(510) 891-8543
www.jtm-esc.org/st-pauls-towers
South Bay/Peninsula
Peninsula Regent
San Mateo
(650) 579-5500
www.peninsularegent.com
Vi at Palo Alto
(877) 776-3972
www.paloalto.viliving.com
North Bay
Drake Terrace
San Rafael
(415) 460-7997
www.lifeatdraketerrace.com
In-Home Care
The S.F.-based JFCS’ Seniors At Home program, which serves San Francisco, the Peninsula and the North Bay, has been offering in-home care for 25 years, ranging from help several hours a day to round the clock, providing assistance with personal care, such as bathing and grooming, and homemaker-companion services, including light housekeeping, cooking, shopping and transportation. The agency also provides palliative and end-of-life care, conservatorship services and caregiver support.
JFCS/East Bay Home Care for Seniors, launched in 2013, brings a Jewish perspective to home-care services, with a focus on culture, traditions and dietary practices. In addition to light housekeeping and laundry help, cooking and meal planning, personal care and companionship, the agency also provides geriatric social workers who make home visits, providing “an extra level of oversight and advocacy,” says Holly Taines White, JFCS/East Bay director of grants and communications.
Bay Area
JFCS Seniors At Home
Various locations
(415) 449-3777
www.seniorsathome.org
East Bay
JFCS/East Bay Home Care for Seniors
Alameda County • (510) 684-6009
Contra Costa County • (925) 949-6151
www.jfcs-eastbay.org