By Cindy Mindell

BRIDGEPORT – In a unique collaboration, Jewish Senior Services and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society Connecticut Chapter have created a place where people with MS can live independent lives with support.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an unpredictable, often disabling disease of the central nervous system that disrupts the flow of information within the brain, and between the brain and body. The cause of MS is still unknown – scientists believe the disease is triggered by as-yet-unidentified environmental factor in a person who is genetically predisposed to respond.

The progress, severity and specific symptoms of MS in any one person cannot yet be predicted. Most people with MS are diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 50, with at least two to three times more women than men being diagnosed with the disease.

Many people with MS can live independently at home, making adjustments to the physical environment or hiring a caregiver as the disease progresses. But if that option proves untenable, the only alternative is to move into a traditional nursing home.

“We know that dozens and dozens of adults with MS in the 20- to-50-something age range are placed inappropriately in nursing homes across the state, where everyone is on the same schedule and where younger adults don’t have an appropriate quality of life,” says Lisa Gerrol, president of the National MS Society Connecticut Chapter. “Physically, they may have challenges, but mentally, they need a different kind of lifestyle in order to live their best lives.”

A unique solution came into focus two years ago, when Fairfield-based Jewish Senior Services (JSS) was in the midst of constructing its new nursing-home facility on Park Avenue in Bridgeport. Gerrol found common ground with JSS president and CEO Andrew Banoff, whose goal was to create an optimal living space for his residents who have MS.

“Just as we do with diseases like dementia, we wanted to find ways to specialize our care so that people who have an unfortunate illness like MS have both the best resources and specially-trained and committed caregivers,” Banoff says. “We realized that people with MS could have a shared experience in the new Jewish Senior Services facility that they wouldn’t typically have in a traditional nursing home.”

The JSS nursing home on the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Campus is designed around six “households” of 14 residents each. In addition to private bedroom-bathroom suites, the residents of a household share common living and dining areas. Banoff reached out to Gerrol, who offered to provide monetary and educational resources to a household dedicated to residents with MS. When the new JSS facility opened in summer 2016, the Sylvia Lawry MS House opened its doors, named in memory of the founder of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society in the U.S. and the International Federation of Multiple Sclerosis Societies.

There are other specialty houses in similar longterm-care household communities around the country, like the ALS house and MS house at the Chelsea Jewish Lifecare facility in Chelsea, Mass. But the Lawry MS House is the first of its kind in Connecticut.

Of the 14 Lawry MS House residents, five have MS, ranging in age from 45 to 60. (Another four residents with MS live among the five other JSS houses.) The National MS Society Connecticut Chapter provides in-service trainings for staff and educational programs for residents with MS and their families, as well as individualized assessments of each resident’s needs. JSS staff provide enrichment activities based on residents’ interests and requests.

Stratford resident Chris Timpanelli, Esq., 56, was the first person with MS to move into the Lawry MS House from outside the JSS resident community, after spending several years in a nursing home when his family could no longer care for him. “My transition from living at home independently was unscheduled: I was in the hospital and all of a sudden, when I left the hospital, I had very little say on where I was going,” he says. “I was very angry; I didn’t think I belonged in a nursing home, I didn’t want to give up the independence but on the other hand, I didn’t want to put the burden on my family and my parents. What other choices were there? I either go in a nursing home or go somewhere else – and there was no somewhere else.”

Now, Timpanelli is living an independent life in a supportive environment. “He can make decisions when he wants to go to the mall or when he wants to get up in the morning or if he wants to stay up late and watch the Late Show,” Gerrol says. “Nobody’s saying, ‘OK, you need to be in bed now;’ ‘OK, you need to get up now.’ This is you as a fully-functioning adult. Even though you have physical handicaps and you can’t necessarily take care of yourself in that way, mentally, you’re able to do a lot of things and make a lot of decisions for yourself.”

Gerrol, who has served as chapter president since 1994, draws a direct line between her work and her background. The child of two Holocaust survivors, Gerrol was born in a displaced persons camp in Germany and immigrated to Wichita, Kan. with her parents when she was a baby.

“I grew up with the understanding that it’s important for each of us to help make a difference in the world,” she says. “My work resonates with my background, of having a need to help people, to make a difference in people’s lives, and make the world a better place. Since I was fortunate to be selected as chapter president, I’ve loved every minute because every day of my life, I know that I’m changing lives.”

A resident of West Hartford and a member of both Beth David Synagogue and The Emanuel Synagogue, Gerrol worked for the JCC of Greater Hartford (now Mandell JCC of Greater Hartford) and the Jewish Federation of Greater Hartford before taking on her current position. She has served on the board of the Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Hartford, where her two children graduated, and is currently a member of the Saint Francis Foundation board in Hartford.

The CT Chapter of the MS Society has also partnered with the Mandell Center for Multiple Sclerosis at Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center. Shown here are medical staff of the Center along with Lisa Gerrol, third from left, and to her right, Andrew and Joyce Mandell of the Andrew J. & Joyce D. Mandell Family Foundation, Inc.

Under her leadership, the Connecticut Chapter has partnered with various organizations and individuals to enhance life for people living with MS: the Mandell Center for Multiple Sclerosis at Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center, the affordable and accessible Ojakian Commons housing development in Simsbury, and the Sylvia Lawry MS House at Jewish Senior Services.

“When I first learned about the household model and that JSS was building a new nursing home, it took me back to thinking about my mother, who chose to live at Hebrew HealthCare in West Hartford when she was no longer able to live independently,” Gerrol says. “She was pleased that it was a Jewish facility that has kosher food and allowed her to observe the Jewish holidays – but is open to anyone. The same thing is true about Jewish Senior Services: they have kosher food, residents have the option to be as observant as they’d like to be, but it’s also open to anyone. I realized that this was going to be a wonderful facility for people with MS, whether they’re Jewish or not Jewish.”

JSS and the National MS Society Connecticut Chapter will co-sponsor a panel discussion, “Resilience: Addressing the Challenges of MS,” on Tuesday, Mar. 28 at 6 PM, at the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Campus, 4200 Park Ave., Bridgeport. Info/registration: nationalmssociety.org/Chapters/CTN / (860) 913-2550.

For more information on the National MS Society Connecticut Chapter: CTFightsMS.org.

CAP: Chris Timpanelli, left, was the first person to move into the Lawry MS House from outside the JSS resident community. He is shown here with Lisa Gerrol, president of the National MS Society Connecticut Chapter.