Care for the elderly: a real choice
FOR THE best part of 300 years, Jewish Choice has been dedicated to providing the elderly in our community with the best of care. Chairman Bernard Mocatta’s insight and attachment to this independent charity is as inspiring as a visit to the north west London elderly care campus. A solicitor, Mocatta continues the good work of his family, who have been a driving force in shaping Jewish Choice, taking it from its original home in the East End of London to its present location. His father and grandfather played an active role and Mocatta recalls visiting the home in the East End as a small child in the 1950s.
“I was introduced to a resident whom I regarded as old, but was all of 68 years of age,” he says. “It was perhaps from that point on that I played an active part in the community — now for both Jewish Choice as well as the Spanish & Portuguese Jews Congregation, but then I used to sing as a boy chorister at the synagogues — Bevis Marks and Lauderdale Road, as well as at the affiliated synagogue at Holland Park. It’s perhaps why I enjoy classical music and in particular the opera.”
The communal seed was planted and after many years of involvement, Mocatta became chairman of the committee and, in 2000, of the board. Today, Jewish Choice is a principal provider of care for the elderly in the Jewish community, often punching above its physical size.
The charity’s senior management are frequently called upon for their expertise. Core to the charity’s approach is the belief in choice not need — the idea that Jewish Choice is a place elderly people and their families will want to live in, rather than because they have no other choice.
Equally encouraging, Jewish Choice wants its residents to remain independent for as long as possible and this means giving real choice at all times, keeping minds active, bodies mobile and souls invigorated. “It really is a treasure in the community’s chest. A worthwhile charity, really worthy of community support,” says Mocatta. With this in mind, Jewish Choice now wishes to build a task force of well-connected, community-networked individuals, to take the charity forward for the next 300 years. Readers are invited to contact chief executive, Paula Peake.
Visit Jewish Choice and you will be impressed by the warm, inviting and family-oriented atmosphere. As Mocatta says: “With fully flexible, individually focused elderly care, we are always fine-tuning our offering, always looking to the future, yet always cognisant of the lives our residents have lived and that they are still to live.”
020 8908 4151 info@jewishchoice.org jewishchoice.org Registered charity 1162974