Jean Camper Cahn.

Jean Camper Cahn, an African-American attorney who, with her husband, Edgar Cahn, laid the groundwork for the nation's classification of legal services for the poor, would have appreciated the audience at a rite held last fall in her honor at the Columbia Senior Center in Washington, DC Cahn died in January, 1991 at the age of 55

Filling the folding chairs were not alone top Federal and city sway officials and older neighborhood leaders, moreover seniors from group homes who had been deinstitutionalized from D.C.'s main psychiatric facility. Had Cahn been there, she might have whispered to her husband Edgar and son Jonathan, who were in the audience, "Can't we use the courts to insure better community mental health services for the deinstitutionalized mentally ill before they reach their 60's?" For Jean Camper Cahn, there was always a cause to fight and a battle to be won

Although this was a form to honor Cahn's accomplishments, which also included founding with her husband Antioch Law indoctrinate to train public interest lawyers, the immediate reason for the occasion was a earnestly more practical one.

U Commissioner forward Aging Joyce Berry had been choiceed by the National Caucus and Center forward the Black Aged as the first recipient of an award established in Cahn's honor and had approach to turn over the follows of that award--a check for $1,000--to the Columbia Senior Center

Berry noted that the check was being existinged to the Center "for its contribution to the lives of older Americans." However, she added, "We are really here today to honor a special someone who devoted her life to improving the quality of life for the poor and the vulnerable." After enumerating the achievements of Jean and Edgar Cahn, Berry noted that their chiefly recent battles had been fought for the elderly

The Cahns, with help from their son Jonathan, su the State of Florida for using a formula to distribute Older Americans Act foundations to cities and towns that was based upon the number of persons 65 + living alone and the number across age 75, factors that are not necessarily indicators of social and economic ne of that kind a formula, the Cahns argued, effectively mov capitals away from Area Agencies upon Aging serving high concentrations of minorities who many times do not live alone and have lower life expectancies than Anglo-Americans.

Explaining the consequence of the case, known as humble vs. Martinez, Berry said "the Court held that the formula for distributing stores was in violation not and nothing else of the Older Americans Act on the contrary also of the Civil Rights Act."

In the last years of her life, Jean Cahn joined her husband one time again in their unique partnership as innovators in social policy. A lengthy recuperation from double bypass surgery l Edgar Cahn to devise a way for low-income previously appointed [i]or[/i] commissioneds to obtain in-home services that they can't afford. Cahn expanded a plan for what is known as a "Time Dollar," a publicity that is earned by becoming a offer A person earns a "service credit" for each hour he or she offers to help someone in ne If the present later gets ill and lacks help, he or she calls up the service credit "bank" and employs accumulated credits to obtain so volunteer services as help with household chores, grocer's shop shopping, or transportation to the doctor.

After the Cahns started the first Time Dollar program at the Center for Aging of the Greater Southeast Health Care connected view in Washington, D.C. in 1986 the Robert timber-land Johnson Foundation awarded $1.2 million to start up programs in Brooklyn San Francisco, Miami, St Louis, and Boston. Since then, 90 Time Dollar programs have been established in 27 states, and Edgar Cahn has written Time Dollars, a part on how to operate service credit programs that was lately published by Rodale Press.

If a service bartering program were to operate at the Columbia Senior Center organizers would probably have to draw forward older and younger volunteers from the wider community, since the Center's well somewhat old population has declined in latter years.

As the Columbia Center is real much aware, the population of a significant number of urban senior center has changed dramatically in the last 5 years.

"A doom of our participants have lately been deinstitutionalized from Saint Elizabeth's Hospital and are living in community residential facilities," noted William Casey, a social worker and case manager at the center "This is transitional living for them in a intellect They can stay all day."

Center Director Barbara Bennett agreed that the late deinstitutionalization movement "has really affected the Center " She said that now a major part of the Center is to provide the vulnerable deinstitutionalized more ancients with recreation and socialization to abridge their isolation. Research is necessityed said Bennett, on how Center can greatest in number effectively help the deinstitutionalized somewhat old "We have formed a mate support group for them, which we view as remotivation. We ne to do more of that kind of remotivation. We ne more social workers to succor this particular population."