Dementia strategy welcomed

A broad welcome has been given to the government’s new dementia strategy by Nightingale in Clapham, one of Europe’s largest care homes for the elderly.

Nightingale chief executive Leon Smith believes the proposals will help destigmatise the condition. But the strategy “must only be part of the desperately needed review of how long-term care of older people is funded”. This included making symptom-inhibiting drugs such as Aracept freely available on the NHS.

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Hip-op man disabled by hospital fall

A pensioner has received £180,000 in damages after hospital staff dropped him as he recovered from a hip replacement operation.

Harold Shaw, 82, was left unable to walk and confined to a care home after the incident at Finchley Memorial Hospital, in North-West London.

Mr Shaw’s son, David, took legal action against Barnet Primary Care Trust (PCT), which manages the hospital. The case was due to be heard at the High Court last month, but the trust settled out of court.

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I still can’t walk, says bomb-blast victim

An Israeli paralysed by a suicide bomb has returned to the UK after his attempts to follow a treatment plan designed to make him walk again failed.

Zion Shitrit, 24, suffered severe spinal damage after the bombing in Hadera in 2005. Doctors said the nerves in his legs were destroyed and he would never walk again.

In April, he came to the Mind Clinic in London which works with people suffering from spinal injuries. He regained feeling in his toes, stood for the first time since the injury and was told he should be walking within two years.

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UK hosts Israeli mental-health workers

Representatives from the Israeli mental-health organisation Enosh were in London this week to announce plans for a joint Israeli and Palestinian centre to help build psychological resilience during on-going trauma within conflict zones.

One of the Israeli delegates was from the southern town of Sderot, whose own home was destroyed by rocket fire.

Hilla Hadas, executive director of Enosh, presented the project at the International Mental Health conference, held at King's College, London.

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Health tips of a doctor who beat cancer

After surviving a brain tumour, David Servan-Schreiber has written a best-selling book on staying cancer-free

David Servan-Schreiber has one regret about his best-selling book, Anticancer: A New Way of Life, a guide to reducing the risk of getting cancer through diet, exercise, and spiritual and mental factors.

He wishes that the spotlight had not fallen on broccoli.

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Teens: let us smoke on tour

The hot topic among Jewish youth movements this summer has been whether or not to allow participants to smoke on "tour" - the Israel summer schemes for post-GCSE 16-year-olds.

The dilemma arises over a change in UK law which has raised the age at which cigarettes can be bought to 18, the same as in Israel. But legally, 16-year-olds in Britain can smoke.

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Chai Cancer Care now in Clapham

The services of Chai Cancer Care are now available to South London Jewry through a link-up with the Nightingale home in Clapham.

Two rooms at Nightingale have been made available for the provision of Chai's complementary therapies and counselling.

Speaking at the launch last week, Chai chief executive Elaine Kerr said: "We know that Chai's clients will receive the same warm welcome at Nightingale as they do at our centre in Hendon."

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Legacy of 7/7 victim

An eye-care centre in India was opened this week in memory of 7/7 bombings victim Miriam Hyman.

Based at the L V Prasad Eye Institute in Bhubaneswar, the Miriam Hyman Children’s Eye Care Centre will serve underprivileged youngsters. The £100,000-plus facility has been funded by the Miriam Hyman Memorial Trust, set up by the family of the North Londoner, who died in the 2005 blast at Tavistock Square, aged 32.

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Barmitzvah boy defies illness

Bushey Synagogue was packed to capacity on Shabbat for the barmitzvah of Marc Lebe, who suffers from Duchenne muscular dystrophy, an incurable muscle-wasting genetic condition which leads to disability and premature death.

An integral part of the community since his birth, Marc has been unable to walk since he was 10, is losing movement in his upper limbs and has moderate learning difficulties.

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