Brookline Hero: 'Tireless' Rabbi Helps Seniors During Crisis

BROOKLINE, MA — It had been more than a month since vulnerable residents at facilities across the commonwealth were able to receive family visitors. In that void, essential workers from nurses to spiritual leaders, stepped up to help.

Brookline resident Rabbi Karen Landy was one of those, according to coworkers and friends at Hebrew SeniorLife Newbridge in Dedham.

She knows every patient and family member in the entire Hebrew Rehabilitation Center - Dedham by name, and also their complete life history, according to Rabbi Sara Paasche-Orlow, who is the director of the Hebrw SeniorLife Spiritual Care Department.

Even amid all the uncertainty, she was always there at the times when she was needed, whether a weekend, a holiday, or a late night crisis and often brings her dog, Tamari, understanding what a difference the touch and love of an animal can have on those who have had reduced human touch because of the coronavirus, Paasche-Orlow told Patch.

"She has tremendous compassion for the large and small challenges that our seniors confront every day as they manage bereavement, loss of independence, growing disability, and also has an eye for recognizing the small moments of joy and helping everyone else see them and celebrate the good things every day," she said.

Landy was once one of many in the room during end-of-life conversations between patients and their families. Those conversations morphed into having Landy hold a tablet up to the patient while their husband or wife, sons and daughters say their goodbyes.

"She is not afraid of pain and suffering and is truly present for people during the hardest moments, helping family members through the loss of their loved ones, and keeping the memories alive of those who have passed," said Paasche-Orlow.

Landy had worked with patients at SeniorLife for the past decade when the pandemic hit. She was the senior chaplain in charge of providing spiritual support in assisted living section of the facility as well as in the long term care and rehab. She'd offer religious services, teach classes and act as support to staff.

Her work, like the work of many others pivoted amid pandemic. Although she still works with those who are not sick with the coronavirus, those first few months she was spending a lot of time working with patients who had tested positive for the virus.

She turned on a dime to spend much of her time focusing on end of life care and connections, in a new ways. Previously she would have been much more of a fly on the wall of a room filled with family members. That changed as she became the human touch in a room kept empty of family out of concern for the virus.

Landy told Patch earlier this year that she would be dressed head to toe in protective gear and helping set up conversations between a patient and their family as many as 20 times a week.

"My work has completely changed to do 90 percent hands on," she said. "This is really constant spiritual support end of life care."

She was there six days a week and often 10 hours a day. And even when she's not there, she said she tries to be as available to help, and not just for those who were diagnosed with the coronavirus.

"We would have weeks where people were being diagnosed with COVID-19 in addition to our regular end of life cases," she said. "Families wanted to talk to loved ones on Saturday and Sunday."

The dying process doesn't stop for the weekends. She'll show up to help do a prayer of gratitude, help a person get ready, or be a witness and support for staff or patients.

"The hardest thing is, for me, being at funerals where someone says 'I haven't been able to see my mom for eight weeks, except for the Facetime.' And so you do it."

Some calls are 10 minutes long. Others are more than two hours.

Landy said sometimes there's just silence on the other end of the line as if they were at the bedside, being together.

"I'm lucky because, unlike chaplains at the bigger hospitals, who don't know the patients, for the most part I've known them," she said. "I've already been immersed in their lives. So, it feels like a privilege and honor to be with them through this."

With group activities stopped, she was constantly walking from room to room, changing her protective gear, and checking in with patients and staff.

Because she was exposed so much to the virus, when she came home she immediately showered and kept her clothing separate. She slept in a different bedroom from her partner.

"We are very, very careful," she said.

With what once grounded her during her more intense work days, a workout at the gym or a row on the Charles, now on pause, a feeling among staff and her community that everyone is in this together kept her going, she said.

"I've compartmentalized a lot of it," she told Patch in the spring. "As a staff we talk daily, but I do think when we begin to open up and realize how many people are no longer here, it's going to hit me."

She said she also takes a moment in her car on the way home and will have a cry when she needs to, and she said walking her dogs helps, too.

She brushes off the suggestion that what she does is heroic.

"I went into chaplaincy because of a certain calling. It's what I do and it's what most of us do. I don't use the word hero, I think I'm able to fully do the job that I was prepared to do."

She's quick to point out the work that her colleagues are doing, too.

"Every staff member that I work with — housekeeping to culinary — have made themselves present and done extraordinary things. Housekeeping deep cleaning from 7 am. to 11, culinary same thing. Our director of nursing, has three children and literally spent six weeks living in a hotel before she could go home. We, everyone has gone above and beyond, so it's raised us all up. And even though we'll look back on this and feel sadness for the amount of people who have been lost to this virus, we will feel like we gave it our all and were as present as we could possibly be. And it's been a privilege."

Rochelle Ruthchild of Brookline nominated Landy as a Patch Hero. Learn more about what Ruthchild had to say below:

Where does the nominee live?:

Brookline

Where does the person who nominated the hero live?:
Brookline

Name of the nominee:
Rabbi Karen Landy

Name of the person who nominated the hero:
Rochelle Ruthchild

Is the nominee considered an “essential worker”?:
Yes

What does the nominee do for work?:
Rabbi to residents and staff at Hebrew Senior Life Newbridge

Why do you believe the nominee should be recognized or honored?
Rabbi Karen is ministering to a fragile population, a number of whom have been affected by coronavirus, and others of whom are dealing with the complexities of aging and death. She is making a difference by facilitating communication between those at Newbridge and loved ones, who cannot visit and by comforting those in the facility as they confront the pandemic.

What’s one thing you want everyone to know about your hero?:
Karen is tireless and extremely dedicated to her work and the people she serves.