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Friday July 11, 2008

Soup’s on: Palo Alto VA hospital program delivers care and good food

by maytal bar-shir
correspondent

A mere mention of chicken soup conjures up something warm and nourishing. Something good for the soul. Something Jewish.

Those descriptions also apply to a new program called Soup for the Soul.

Some members of the Jewish community on the Peninsula are spending a few hours a week cooking and serving homemade soup to hospice and palliative-care patients being treated by the Veterans Affairs hospital in Palo Alto.

Soup for the Soul helps people who are homebound by employing patient visits, or “bikur cholim,” says Rabbi Jay Heyman, a chaplain at the hospital.

And as much as the patients enjoy the meal and the company, this Soup for the Soul works both ways.

“The [volunteers] walk away glowing and feeling incredibly good about bringing joy and love to the patients and their families,” Heyman says.

Miriam White, a veteran and a 20-year volunteer at the hospital, says the idea for the program came about last year after she stayed in the palliative-care unit in the VA hospital. Palliative care is treatment that attempts to relieve or soothe the symptoms of a severe disease rather than effecting a cure.

White came out of her stay with a mission: “To make some good soup for the soul,” she says.

In the fall of 2007, seed money was secured via a contribution from the local chapter of Jewish War Veterans, led by Bert Sugarman. White began preparing and personally offering a bowl of soup (and condiments) to each palliative-care patient at the hospital once per week.

The initial promotional effort was catchy and creative. A flier featuring White stirring a pot of soup read, “Everybody needs a Jewish mother.”

“It was quite the hit,” White, who is indeed Jewish, says with a chuckle.

Many of the volunteers come from Temple Beth Jacob in Redwood City, Congregation Kol Emeth in Palo Alto and Congregation Beth Am in Los Altos, all sponsors of the program.

“This weekly event not only warms the patients’ stomach and gives them a break from hospital food,” says VA hospital public affairs officer Patricia Teran-Matthews. “It also warms their hearts. The patients, the ones that are able, get out of their beds because they are awakened by the smells of the soup simmering.”

Creative arts therapist Jerry Duncan describes the soups as “stellar” in quality and taste. Among the ever-growing list of offerings are tomato squash, gazpacho, corn chowder with cod, sweet-and-sour meatball, lentil, split pea, chicken noodle and — of course — matzah ball.

“They carry a natural, homey scent,” Duncan says. “We use fresh herbs and vegetables from Mollie Stone’s, and it’s virtually all kosher.”

Even as a Protestant, Duncan says he has come to learn that kosher, in essence, “means good for you — goodness, wholesome … kosher.”

There are now eight chefs who prepare the soup, and the list is growing, organizers say. The volunteers prepare approximately 60 servings a week, or an estimated three gallons of soup. The youngest volunteer is 21 and the oldest is White at 83.

The soups originally were transported to patients on wheeled carts, but the devices were quickly gussied up a bit. “Then came the tablecloths, and the bowl of crackers … even handpicked roses get added,” Duncan says.

Protestant minister Penny Phillips, a chaplain who has worked at the VA hospital for 15 years, calls Soup for the Soul “a broad, meaningful entity” for combining chaplain care, recreation therapy and spiritual care. The patients are of varying races, religions and backgrounds; one thing they share is that they’re all seriously ill.

“[Some] patients are no longer able to communicate,” Phillips says. “The homemade soup touches their heart and feeds their soul.”

Adds Teran-Matthews: “It brings people together, improves morale, lifts the spirit, is healthy, and promotes camaraderie and friendship.”

According to Heyman, the very act of entering a room and expressing care is in and of itself a healing act, and Soup for the Soul is revolutionizing the way traditional medical care is delivered.

“Looking at the whole person, including spiritually, lends itself to a faster recovery,” Heyman says.

Soup for the Soul is looking for more volunteers. Information: Rabbi Jay Heyman, (650) 493-5000 ext. 65532, or mitzuyahn@mac.com. Contributions payable to VAPAHCS-GPF 2350 can be sent to VA Palo Alto Health Care System, 3801 Miranda Ave., Palo Alto, CA 94304. Write “Soup for the Soul” on the check.

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