Hebrew Home and Hospital -- Hebrew HealthCare

Collection

Identifier: Institution-0008-002-004a

Scope and Contents

This collection is strongest in recent materials; it contains relatively little early material. One very interesting component of this collection is the material relating to Sophie Tucker whose mother, Jennie Abusa, and friends in Hartford supported the Home and arranged for her to do benefit shows here. Another useful component is the photos and printed material that show the Home residents during the early 20th century, giving a sense of some of the religious observance that obtained during their generation.

Dates

Creation: 1898 - 2012

Historical Note

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At the end of the last century, the women of the Jewish community banded together to create a wide variety of social services. One of their primary concerns was the care of the aged, and in 1898 they formed the Hebrew Ladies' Sick Benefit Association, probably an auxiliary of the Hebrew Sick Benefit Association. In 1901, the women pledged to pay five cents per week into a fund towards the building of a home for elders. They also went door to door collecting nickels each week from members of the community, carrying the money in handkerchiefs and earning the name "the handkerchief brigade." By 1907, they had raised enough money to purchase a large home at 33 Wooster Street that became the Hebrew Old People's Home.

In 1911, the group changed its name to the Hebrew Ladies' Old Peoples' Home Association and began raising money for an expansion. By 1919, however, the Wooster Street facility could no longer meet community demand, and a mansion at 276 Washington Street was purchased. A large annex was eventually built. The number of elders under the care of the home grew so great that volunteer administration and maintenance was no longer feasible. In 1929 the first paid staff members were hired.

By the 1940s, the Home was again too small for the community's needs, and fundraising for a new facility began again. The new facility was completed in 1955 on Tower Avenue and received the name "Hebrew Home for the Aged." Eventually the Tower Avenue facility, responding to the needs of its constituents, became an actual chronic disease hospital.

As the Jewish population moved west into West Hartford, Bloomfield, and Simsbury, most of the local Jewish institutions moved, as well. The Home, now called Hebrew Home and Hospital, joined them, moving to a site off of Bloomfield Avenue in 1989. The Home remains one of the prime local Jewish institutions today, a source of pride for the community.

On December 2016, Hebrew Health Care sold the building on 1 Abrahms Boulevard and the skilled service line to a for-profit health care organization; National Health Care Associates. Hebrew HealthCare emerged from bankruptcy in August 2017 and began using the DBA Hebrew Senior Care.

Source: http://www.hebrewhealthcare.org/data/userfiles/files/History%20of%20Hebrew%20Senior%20Care.pdf