Happy Chanukah - The Jewish Georgian

November-December 2011 THE JEWISH GEORGIAN Page 7
Capitol Steps to perform at Golden Gala
Famed Washington, D.C., comedy
troupe The Capitol Steps will headline the
biennial fundraiser for The William Breman
Jewish Home, on Saturday evening,
December 3, at the InterContinental
Buckhead. Proceeds are specially designated
to upgrade the facility of this historic
elderly care center, in particular the auditorium,
where special events are held.
For event supporters, bolstering the
Jewish home underscores the age-old Fifth
Commandment—to honor one’s parents—
and often resonates personally.
“The William Breman Jewish Home
became a place I cared about after I saw my
own grandfather lying in a bed at The
Jewish Home, when it was on 14th Street,”
said Dulcy Rosenberg, who, with Jerry
Horowitz, is one of the evening’s honorees.
“He seemed so alone and helpless.... I knew
at that moment that I needed to make a difference
in the care of the elderly and disabled,”
she said.
The gala starts at 7:30 p.m., with the
special performance by The Capitol Steps,
at 8:00 p.m.
“We are taught L’dor V’dor, which
calls on each generation to transmit the val-
ues of the
previous one
and help one
another,”
said co-honoree
Jerry
Horowitz.
“We can best
demonstrate
this when we
care for our
parents as
they did for
us and as
their parents
did before
them.
“I worked to make our William
Breman Jewish Home a great place,
because every man and woman needing to
be in a nursing home in our community
should have the very best care until the end
of their lives. My mother was blessed to
have this kind of loving care.”
The William Breman Jewish Home has
been serving the community’s frail, elderly,
and disabled since 1951. Originally located
on 14th Street, it moved to a larger, new
I remember Dr. Arnall Patz
BY
Carolyn
Goodman Gold
The Jewish Georgian’s mission has
always been to highlight the contributions
of Jewish citizens to their communities and
to the state of Georgia. Never has there been
a more outstanding contribution than that of
Dr. Arnall Patz, a native of my old hometown,
Elberton, Georgia, to his birthplace,
his country, and to the world’s medical
community.
Arnall Patz, who died in 2010, was
honored for his lifetime contribution to ophthalmology.
He is credited with discovering
that high oxygen levels can cause blindness
in premature infants. His findings led to
changes that saved the sight of countless
babies.
Dr. Patz was director of the Wilmer
Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins, and he was
the recipient of a Presidential Medal of
Freedom in 2004. He also received an
Albert Lasker Award, “often called the
‘American Nobel,’” according to Johns
Hopkins Medicine magazine.
Arnall was born in Elberton in 1920.
The Johns Hopkins publication describes
Elberton as “rural.” We didn’t consider it
so, unless you count that the Patz family
kept a cow in their backyard, a stone’s
throw from downtown.
He graduated from Emory University
and Emory Medical School. After serving
facility on
Howell Mill
Road in
1971. In
1999, the
d o o r s
opened on a
new stateof-the-art
facility on
what is
known as
the Harry
and Jeanette
Weinberg
campus,
which provides
residents with a cheerful, home-like
environment. Rehabilitation therapy services
are located in a fully equipped, newly
renovated area overlooking the garden
courtyard.
The complex comprises The Home
itself, a 96-bed Medicare- and Medicaidcertified
facility specializing in long-term
skilled nursing home care and short-term
rehabilitative care; The Zaban Tower, 60
senior apartments for independent and
Dulcy Rosenberg Jerry Horowitz
in World War II, he joined the eye clinic at
Walter Reed Army Hospital and then began
his residency at the District of Columbia
General Hospital.
I fondly remember his father, Mr. Sam
Patz, joking that he just wanted to live long
enough “to see Arnall finish school.” If Mr.
Patz could only have known: Arnall went
on to earn a master of liberal arts degree
from Johns Hopkins University at age 78!
Arnall’s observation of premature
infants with severe loss of sight led him to
suspect high levels of oxygen in their incubators.
When he could not get funding for
his research, he borrowed money from his
brother Louis in Elberton. Louis Patz and
his wife, Florette, later lost their lives in the
1962 Orly plane crash, and their children
were taken in to live with Arnall’s family.
Dr. Patz was also known for the development
of one of the first lasers used to
treat diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular
degeneration, and retina tearing. Among
his many awards was the first Helen Keller
Prize for Vision Research in 1994.
Dr. Morton F. Goldberg, one of Patz’s
protégés and his immediate successor as
director of the Wilmer Eye Institute, called
him “an exceptional colleague and friend,
whom I consider to be one of the greatest
ophthalmologists and greatest human
beings in modern medicine. It was his passion,
as well as his brilliance, that made him
a great researcher and clinician, and most
importantly, a mentor to all of us who
learned and worked with him.”
Emory Magazine also carried a tribute
to Dr. Arnall Patz on his death. His mother,
Sarah Patz, who was like a grandmother to
me, and his father, Sam Patz, would have
been so proud of their youngest son’s
accomplishments. Elberton also should be
assisted living; The Vi & Milton Weinstein
Hospice, a Medicare-certified agency providing
end-of-life care, as well as comfort
and respite care through the Gesher
Palliative Care Program; The Meyer Balser
NORC (Naturally Occurring Retirement
Community), a community program funded
by The Jewish Federation of Greater
Atlanta that provides seniors with innovative
activities and services so that they can
continue to live independently and age in
place; The Jewish Tower, a 200-unit senior
citizen high-rise apartment building; and
The Cohen Home, an assisted living facility
in Alpharetta.
The William Breman Jewish Home is
dependent on charitable contributions to
provide all residents with the best possible
care, regardless of ability to pay. A beneficiary
of the Jewish Federation of Greater
Atlanta, The Home also has many individual
and corporate supporters.
For Golden Gala tickets and information,
call Cindy Cassano or Carole Shovers,
at the William Breman Jewish Home, 404-
351-8410.
proud to have had a world-renowned native
who contributed so much to humanity
through preserving “the gift of sight.”