UCSF and the Jewish Home partner for research A world of interests ...

When she walks into the Jewish Home, Linda Kalinowski does not have unrealistic expectations.
After nearly four years of volunteering as a spiritual care partner, she knows to be “ready to
roll with the punches, to be with the residents in their experience at the moment.”
Linda is a volunteer in the award-winning,
nationally-recognized Kol Haneshema program, a
unique collaboration of the Jewish Home, the Bay Area
Jewish Healing Center, and the Zen Hospice Project,
which trains volunteers to spend time with residents
in the final months and days of their lives. Linda was
among the first group of volunteers in the program.
Volunteering is part of her family’s culture. Her family
moved around a lot when she was growing up because of
her father’s career, but wherever they lived, her mother
was a community volunteer. Once Linda had completed
her education (she has a B.A. in biology, an M.A. in public
health, and a law degree from Hastings), married and
started her own family, volunteering became a major
aspect of her life. She spent many years on committees
and boards of Jewish and other organizations. At the
same time, she delved into a variety of adult education
opportunities, including Torah study through a ‘rosh
chodesh,’ a women’s study group.
“About five years ago, I realized that board and
committee obligations were outweighing my adult
education or spiritual pursuits,” she says. “I decided I
needed to change course. I wanted to focus on direct
volunteering. I didn’t know what I was going to do,
but one day I opened up j., the Jewish news weekly
of Northern California, and there it was: the Bay
Area Jewish Healing Center was looking for hospice
volunteers. I knew that was it.”
At least once a week, Linda devotes time to residents
at the Jewish Home. She may visit a particular resident
with whom she has been ‘partnered’ for a while, or
someone she is just getting to know. She might engage in
conversation, listen to stories, or just sit quietly, perhaps
holding the resident’s hand. She has experienced grief
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Jewish Senior Living 2009/ 2010