BY HILLARY VIDERS
SPECIAL TO NORTHERN VALLEY PRESS
ALPINE — On July 15, members of Chavurah Beth Shalom congregation in Alpine held a service honoring Elaine Adler. Adler and her late husband, Mike, founded the Adler Aphasia Center in Maywood in 2003. Since the day their center opened, it has provided support and therapy for thousands of people with aphasia and their families.
Many people in the general population are not aware of aphasia, although some 2 million people are afflicted with it. Aphasia is a communication disorder that impairs the expression and understanding of spoken language, reading and writing. It occurs most often from a stroke or traumatic brain injury. This frustrating condition affects one’s ability to communicate, but does not affect his or her intellect. Aphasia affects 40 percent of all stroke and brain trauma survivors. Roughly 70,000 people with aphasia reside in New Jersey, but just 2 percent of them are participating in long-term rehabilitation.
Elaine Adler became involved in aphasia when her husband Mike Adler, a prominent businessman, had a stroke. Following bypass surgery, a blood clot developed and went to his brain. Mike was a brilliant man with a successful global marketing business with more than 500 employees, and a world traveler. Now he couldn’t walk or talk and his cognitive skills were weak. He had become one of the many victims of aphasia.
At the time, little was known about aphasia in the United States. The Adlers made many frustrating attempts at progress with five different speech therapists and then spent two years doing world-wide research and developing a cadre of supporters. In 2003, they opened the Adler Aphasia Center, a non-profit service to the community. Its goal was to serve as a vital resource for people with aphasia, their loved ones, healthcare professionals, researchers and caring community partners and donors. At that time, they had no idea that their journey would benefit so many. The center now has more than 50 “members” (referred to as such because this is a non-medical facility) on any given day and more than 90 who are regular participants each week. There are more than 100 volunteers to assist in all areas of the center and 19 professional staff members. Over 50 professionals comprise the board of directors and members of their elite scientific and clinical advisory committees. With over 1,000 individuals, foundations and organizations that donate to the center each year, the Adler Aphasia Center has helped lay the groundwork for future centers.
The Adler Aphasia Center also offers seven Aphasia Communication Groups in six New Jersey counties: Atlantic, Bergen, Morris, Ocean, Somerset and Union.
The Adler Aphasia Center has garnered numerous accolades and recognitions and it is a role model for other aphasia centers around the world. Its programs and activities are facilitated by speech-language pathologists and healthcare professionals, all sharing the primary goals of enhancing the communication skills of its members and providing opportunities for social and peer support, while building members’ self-esteem and self-confidence.
The center also addresses the needs of the caregiver by providing support groups, since this language disorder affects the entire family. The center offers training and educational programs in order to share its unique model of care with a national and international audience of health care professionals, consumers, educators, students, speech-language pathologists and others interested in improving the quality of life for those affected by aphasia. In addition, the center is actively engaged in research efforts that examine the impact of its programs and offer innovative approaches to individual treatment.
In addition to many enjoyable daily activities, the members look forward to putting on an annual play and making beautiful gifts and jewelry for sale. A display of their beautiful work was at the Alpine Community Temple on July 16. The service on July 15 that honored Elaine Adler began with an introduction by Susan Penn, a board member of the Adler Aphasia Center and a founding member of Chavurah Beth Shalom, who praised Adler for her always upbeat attitude and perseverance. Adler thanked everyone and declared, “There are still many people who do not know what aphasia is and that there is a center where they can seek help. So, I am deputizing every one of you here today. You are all ambassadors for aphasia. As deputies, I am asking you to go out and tell people about aphasia.”
Adler was then given a proclamation by Alpine Mayor Paul Tomasko for the decades that she and Mike Adler have spent giving back to the community. He praised the Adler Aphasia Center for offering treatment and for training professionals and establishing a nursing program at Ramapo College, thereby ensuring that there are aphasia health care professionals for generations to come. He then officially declared that throughout the borough, July 15, 2017 would be known as “Elaine Adler Day.”
Next, state Assemblyman Gordon Johnson and Rabbi Jack Bemporad also praised Adler for the important contribution that she and Mike Adler have made to the community.
“I have known Elaine for 30 years,” Bemporad said. “And she is still as beautiful and as dedicated to her values as ever. But, besides all of Elaine’s wonderful virtues, she has this wonderful capacity to not just sit and endure adversity, but to do something about it. Aphasia is a horrible illness and many doctors still do not understand it. As such, she and Mike began a revolution and built a center that has brought blessings to people’s lives, and has given them a new sense of life. Elaine realized that she could not do this alone, so she engaged a dedicated staff and donors. I myself am a contributor to the Adler Aphasia Center.”
In addition to Bemporad, the ceremony was attended by over 40 members of the Chavurah Beth Shalom congregation, including Rabbi Nat Benjamin and Cantor Janine Schwarz.
During the ceremony, several congregants spoke about how the Adler Aphasia Center changed their lives and the lives of their loved ones who have aphasia. One woman, Becky Parker, gave a PowerPoint presentation that showed the remarkable progress of her husband Art, who sat next to her in his wheelchair.
After the congratulatory speeches, Adler was presented with a gift from Chavurah Beth Shalom – a decorative shofar (a ram’s horn that is blown on Rosh Hashana, to herald in the Jewish New Year) and an engraved stand to display it. Adler proceeded to blow the shofar, for which she received a hearty round of applause from the audience as they heralded her as someone “who always answers the call.”
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Photos by Hillary Viders