People Making a difference for People
Amy Kaufman, Jewish Review, November 1, 2006.

Barbara Sue Cohen always has been a resourceful person. She was a hospital administrator, specializing in performance improvement at the management level when her doctor recommended that she curtail her working hours.

Cohen then took a part-time job in a home for developmentally disabled adults and lobbied businesses to create positions for them. As her health deteriorated, she tried various jobs until it became too painful to sit in a chair for more than five minutes.

She applied for disability benefits, but while she was waiting for a determination from Social Security she had no income at all. She knew that if she didn't get help soon, she would be out on the street. She was referred to several agencies, but none could offer the funds to keep her going until she could obtain disability.

"It was a really rough emotional time," she said, "in addition to having tremendous health issues. And I had no family here."

Now she can laugh about the time she asked a counselor to help her with practical solutions. Praising Cohen's resourcefulness, the counselor replied, "I have nothing practical to recommend; you seem to have done it all. But you can come to me, and I'll help you accept the situation. How does that make you feel?"
"I feel really angry," she replied.

One day a relative asked her if she had approached Jewish Family and Child Service. Cohen made an appointment with the agency, which will receive more than $328,000 from the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland this year. She said JFCS immediately addressed her most urgent needs by providing emergency financial aid, counseling and house cleaning.

"In a lot of places you go," said Cohen, "they don't really care what happens to you. But at JFCS there was a real, genuine feeling of wanting to help you out. It's not just a job for them." First, she said, JFCS helped pay her utility bills.

"If I couldn't pay the energy bill, I would lose my Section 8 housing," she said. "When my income went to zero, my rent was paid entirely by Section 8. I received a check for about $40 a month - the difference between my allotment and the actual rent - but that had to go toward the utilities. I had no other cash."

JFCS helped her obtain household supplies like toothpaste and toilet paper, which one cannot purchase with food stamps. "I used to make a decent living, and I took things for granted - like being able to buy things to wash your hair with," she said. "Occasionally, JFCS would either get me household supplies or give me Fred Meyer gift cards. They also turned me on to the Sunshine Pantry (run by Sharon Straus). And they enabled me to buy supplies for diabetic testing."

JFCS also provided monthly counseling sessions without charge (an unbelievably generous gift). Cohen said the emotional support of her JFCS counselor alleviated the "overwhelming" stress.

"She was very supportive, respectful and caring," said Cohen. "She didn't tell me how you can enjoy life on the street. Her approach was, 'Let's see how can we stave this off and help you make it until something more permanent comes along. You don't have to face this alone.' . . .Without that, I was facing the abyss." "Not only was it counseling for the stress," Cohen emphasized, "but there was a lot of practical help. It was also social counseling. They suggested resources and pointed me in the direction of finding practical solutions."

Cohen, who suffers from diabetes and other medical conditions, is unable to do basic housework because of debilitating pain. She said that through the Lifeline program at JFCS, a housekeeper comes "a couple of hours twice a month to help with vacuuming, cleaning the bathroom, mopping the floor. It's a life saver." Cohen now receives disability benefits and is in the process of determining her eligibility for Medicaid.

"JFCS continues to help out during this transition," she said. Cohen said she was once "very much out and about and very social." Now that JFCS has helped her surmount the greatest difficulties, she said she is "looking into getting one of those mobility vehicles, because I like to go to First Thursday (art openings) and music concerts but can't stand or walk far."

"How did the people at JFCS improve the quality of my life?" she reflects. "They saved my life."

For more information on the Lifeline Program, or to schedule a consultation, call 503-226-7079 x121, or visit our contact page and we can send you information by mail or email.