Sid Jacobson JCC in East Hills hosted its annual Lawrence Rosenbloom Care Day Symposium on April 6. Over 120 attendees and partners for neurodegenerative conditions like Alzheimer’s, dementia, and Parkinson’s Disease packed in.
Attendees learned about support offerings from 17 organizations specializing in care and outreach for those with neurodegenerative conditions, including the Nassau County Office for the Aging. Featured speakers also discussed what it’s like to care for these conditions and how to navigate the process.
“The day is about community support,” said Taylor Graf, associate executive director of social services at Sid Jacobson JCC.
Speakers at the Lawrence Rosenbloom Care Day Symposium included care partner and advocate Jessica Guthrie, who talked about her experience caring for her mother, who has Alzheimer’s, while being a mother herself.
“She was able to relate to these care partners by giving those real emotions and the day-to-day life of what care partners experience,” said Lindsay Pernick, director of adult day programs at Sid Jacobson JCC.
Pathologist and dementia expert Adria Thompson also spoke about the different types of dementia and what communication strategies care partners could use to work effectively with those who have the disease.
The event is named after Lawrence Rosenbloom, a food service equipment executive and father of community member Penny Kaufman, who dedicated the event after her father to provide support for those with neurodegenerative conditions like her father had.
Kaufman’s teenage daughter spoke to the crowd of around 120 at the event about Rosenbloom’s impact on their family.
“It was intimate and it was personal,” Graf said. “People felt it and people felt connected.”
The 2025 Lawrence Rosenbloom Care Day Symposium comes as Sid Jacobson JCC launches its latest initiative, Family Care Connect, powered by the National Mah Jongg League, to support people with conditions like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Disease.
Among Sid Jacobson JCC’s adult day programs are the Denise & Robert Silverberg Family Friendship Circle, which provides a welcoming environment for those with memory or functional impairment due to neurodegenerative conditions.
Graf said attendees also built meaningful connections at the event by introducing themselves to someone they’d never met before, leading to touching conversations.
“My highlight of the entire day was at the end of the event. I was sitting at a table with a caregiver who used to have her mother in our program, and she was talking to a new woman whose husband was newly diagnosed with young onset dementia,” Graf said. “And this woman said to the other woman, ‘I was meant to sit next to you,’ because she was able to share about her journey, which created comfort for this woman who’s just starting out on this journey.”
