Hebrew SeniorLife Blog

Tips and resources to help you navigate the joys and challenges of aging, from Boston's trusted expert in senior care.

Amanda Bernardo Named Director of Public Affairs and Community Relations at Hebrew SeniorLife

Bernardo brings a wealth of experience in public service, communications, and community engagement.

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Hebrew SeniorLife announces the appointment of Amanda Bernardo as its new director of public affairs and community relations. 

In her role, Bernardo will bring her extensive experience and skills to enhance the organization's public affairs and communication strategies and community engagement efforts.

Bernardo most recently served as chief of staff and chief strategy officer at the Massachusetts Executive Office of Elder Affairs, where she managed critical agency functions, led communications efforts, and supported strategic initiatives. 

Previously, she served as director of operations for the Kennedy for Massachusetts campaign and held key positions with Representative Denise C. Garlick and the Joint Committee on Elder Affairs.

"We are thrilled to welcome Amanda to our team as the Director of Public Affairs and Community Relations," said Sarah Sykora, chief marketing, communications, and planning officer at Hebrew SeniorLife. "Her wealth of experience in public service, communications, and community engagement aligns perfectly with our mission to enrich the lives of the area’s elderly population."  

Bernardo holds a master’s in public policy and administration from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a bachelor of arts in political science from Loyola University Maryland.   

About Hebrew SeniorLife

Hebrew SeniorLife, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School, is a national senior services leader uniquely dedicated to rethinking, researching, and redefining the possibilities of aging. Hebrew SeniorLife cares for more than 4,500 seniors a day across six campuses throughout Greater Boston. Locations include: Hebrew Rehabilitation Center-Boston and Hebrew Rehabilitation Center-NewBridge in Dedham; NewBridge on the Charles, Dedham; Orchard Cove, Canton; Simon C. Fireman Community, Randolph; Center Communities of Brookline, Brookline; and Jack Satter House, Revere. Founded in 1903, Hebrew SeniorLife also conducts influential research into aging at the Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research, which has a portfolio of more than $98 million, making it one of the largest gerontological research facilities in the U.S. in a clinical setting. It also trains more than 500 geriatric care providers each year. For more information about Hebrew SeniorLife, visit our website or follow us on our blog, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and LinkedIn.

Two locations, each with amenities to make you feel at home.

Amenities at Hebrew Rehabilitation Center - Boston

Our flagship campus is Hebrew Rehabilitation Center - Boston, in the city’s Roslindale neighborhood. Abutting the Arnold Arboretum and close to Jamaica Plain, West Roxbury, Brookline, and Chestnut Hill, our site is well-situated for patients, families, and professionals.

Home to the Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research, our Deanna and Sidney Wolk Center for Memory Health, and many other outpatient services, patients benefit from the resources of a building bustling with innovation and expert care. Our Boston campus is also home to a robust Russian Bilingual Program.

Our Boston campus includes many multipurpose spaces where patients can engage in social activities and organized programs. These also offer areas for families to gather. The Cable Synagogue provides a large sanctuary for both Jewish and interfaith worship. Outdoor courtyards and a secure patio allow easy access to green space.

Our executive chefs and culinary team prepare delicious food that complies with each individual’s dietary requirements and restrictions. In addition to common dining areas on each floor, our newly renovated cafeteria is available as a place families can visit together and enjoy a meal with their loved one. All food at Hebrew Rehabilitation Center in Boston is certified kosher.

Our patient gym offers supervised exercise on specialized equipment designed for geriatric fitness. We also offer seated muscle strengthening equipment on each floor, with supervision by trained staff.

Our Boston campus is filled with curated art from the Hebrew SeniorLife art collection, including original work by artists from around the world as well pieces created by patients.

The Claire and Grover B. Daniels Art Gallery offers rotating exhibitions from local artists. It is open to the general public Monday - Friday from 7:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 10:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.

For updates about Daniels Gallery exhibitions, be sure to follow us on Instagram at @H_seniorlife. For more information or to be added to our gallery mailing list, contact Jill Perkins at 617-971-5786 or JillPerkins@hsl.harvard.edu.

Our on-campus beauty salon offers hairdressing and barber services as well as nail treatments.

Located on the third floor near our upper entrance, we offer a volunteer-run gift shop offering snacks, greeting cards, and gifts.

Patients and their families enjoy 24/7 security, complimentary Wi-Fi, and valet parking for guests.


Amenities at Hebrew Rehabilitation Center - NewBridge

Hebrew Rehabilitation Center is situated on the NewBridge on the Charles campus in Dedham, which offers a full continuum of senior living options including independent living and assisted living. Patients of Hebrew Rehabilitation Center - NewBridge enjoy proximity to the broader community and senior living residents have peace of mind knowing that post-acute and long-term chronic care are available just steps away.

NewBridge on the Charles shares its campus with the Rashi School, an independent school of over 500 students ranging from Kindergarten to eighth grade. When visiting Hebrew Rehabilitation Center at NewBridge, you’ll see that intergenerational interactions with children and students of all ages are part of the daily fabric of life.

The NewBridge campus includes a 100-acre nature preserve along the Charles River. Paved, flat walking paths surround the campus for easy access to the outdoors.

Our Hebrew Rehabilitation Center - NewBridge campus offers spacious multipurpose spaces where patients can engage in social activities and organized programs. There are plentiful comfortable seating areas for families to gather. Our conservatory serves as a synagogue space and the Beal Family interfaith chapel offers another option for small group prayer or meditation. Outdoor patios, enclosed porches, and secure courtyards allow easy access to green space.

Oversized family kitchens create a homelike environment at the center of each household, where our executive chefs and culinary team prepare delicious food cooked to order, complying with each individual’s dietary requirements, preferences, and restrictions. Kosher meals are available by request.

For a change of pace, patients and families may dine at the Nosh eatery in the Shapiro Community Center. Coming in Spring 2024, the Shulman Café will be located on the ground floor of the Health Care Center as a dining alternative after-hours. Open 24 hours a day, five days a week, this self-serve café will have grab-and-go beverages and snacks, breakfast and lunch options, and grocery items for purchase.

Our patient gym offers supervised exercise on specialized equipment designed for geriatric fitness. We also offer seated muscle strengthening equipment within each household, with supervision by trained staff.

Art in all its forms is integral to the unique campus environment of NewBridge, bringing color and creative expression throughout our community. Beginning with our outdoor sculptures and moving inside, you’ll discover many of the 1,000 pieces of original art on campus that our patients and visitors enjoy every day.

Our on-campus beauty salon offers hairdressing and barber services as well as nail treatments.

Patients and their families enjoy 24/7 security, complimentary Wi-Fi, and ample parking for guests. A guest house offers hotel-like accommodations for out-of-town visitors.

Physical therapist helps older woman walk along balance bars in rehabilitation gym at Hebrew Rehabilitation Center

The Best in Senior Care Since 1903

Health Care Services

Hebrew Rehabilitation Center offers long-term chronic care, post-acute rehabilitative care, and a variety of outpatient services.

Explore Health Care

Orchard Cove’s campus was designed as a place where you can continue to focus on what matters most to you — with everything you need to pursue your passions, forge relationships, and enjoy new adventures with ease. Here you’ll find beautiful surroundings, inside and out, and conveniences at every turn including a robust library, state-of-the-art fitness center, and on-site medical practice. Your dining options at Orchard Cove offer fresh, healthy and varied culinary experiences daily, lead by a team of 14 full-time chefs across four venues. Read on to learn more about all of the ways our campus amenities can support your best life at Orchard Cove.

Amenities for Your Active Lifestyle

Orchard Cove's fitness center bustles with activity as residents use the equipment and talk with a fitness consultant.

Vitalize 360 Lounge & Fitness Center

Our fitness center includes an indoor pool and full gym featuring equipment designed for older adults. And right outside that you’ll find our Vitalize 360 lounge. Here you can participate in our Vitalize 360 wellness platform — developed by and piloted at Orchard Cove.

Learn More About Wellness Coaching
Senior woman clipping flowers

Outdoor Recreation

When you enter the Orchard Cove campus, you’ll be surrounded by the woods and wetland bordering Reservoir Pond. Our 38-acre natural environment includes walking trails and paved paths encircling the campus to enjoy the best of all of New England’s seasons. You’re also invited to enjoy our community gardens, tennis court, and outdoor sitting areas.

A geriatrician from Orchard Cove’s on-site primary care practice consults with a resident.

On-Site Health Care

Orchard Cove provides a complete continuum of Harvard Medical School-affiliated health care services right on our campus.

Explore On-Site Health Care
Older woman works on a creative writing project in the Orchard Cove library.

Resident-Run Library

Our resident-run library houses an up-to-date selection of contemporary books and periodicals within an open and bright space that extends out into the common areas.

A group of Orchard Cove residents play cards in one of many common spaces for games.

Additional Conveniences

Orchard Cove residents also enjoy private underground climate-controlled parking, a full beauty salon and spa, general store, game rooms, a computer area, and ample meeting space.

Highlights

4,840

books in our resident-run library

112

menu changes in our restaurants yearly

14

full-time chefs creating satisfying dining experiences

38

acres of surrounding natural beauty

Dining at Orchard Cove

A long shot of older men and women enjoying dining in Orchard Cove’s Pequit dining room.

The Pequit

The Pequit offers a bright and contemporary casual dining space with a concept we describe as “craveable wellness.” The focus is on fresh and healthy ingredients, with many opportunities for choice and customization.

View Sample Menu
A waiter takes orders from two older women and a man seated at a table in the Pavilion dining room.

The Pavilion

The Pavilion dining room’s beautiful setting features floor to ceiling windows, a cozy fireplace, and panoramic views. The formal dining experience includes a daily menu and highlights seasonal cuisine.

View Sample Menu
A older man in a blue shirt and a woman in a blue shirt share a meal in Orchard Cove’s Garden Room restaurant.

The Garden Room

The intimate Garden Room is the perfect dining venue for those who prefer to enjoy the culinary excellence of The Pavilion in a casual bistro atmosphere.

A couple enjoys breakfast at Orchard Cove’s “Four on Three” juice bar and café.

Four on Three

Four on Three is a breakfast and lunch spot on our enhanced living floor that offers a range cooked-to-order breakfast, lunch and dinner options, beginning with freshly squeezed orange juice each morning.

View Sample Menu

What People are saying about Hebrew SeniorLife

  • "Seeing such a big library here is a statement of Orchard Cove’s values. It was one of the things that drew me to Orchard Cove."

    Ruth Rosensweig

  • "We have a wonderful location here. There are ponds outside, with ducks floating around, and the inside is very tastefully decorated."

    Headshot for Shirley Rayport

    Shirley Rayport 2

  • "I can do anything for the first time in my life without having to answer to anyone. And there are so many choices at Orchard Cove."

    Mim Reisberg

    Mim Reisberg

    Resident

Our buildings feature amenities designed to make each day as convenient and comfortable as possible.

These include:

  • Inviting common areas
  • State-of-the-art fitness space
  • Skyline Café
  • Beauty salon and barber shop
  • On-site parking
  • Laundry facilities

Schedule a Tour

Dining room at 100 Centre Street, filled with red chairs and tables and low-hanging lights

Dining Options

Residents have the option to participate in the dining program at the Skyline Café at the Marilyn and André Danesh Family Residences at 100 Centre Street, which offers a nutritious, attractive, and flexible meal plan in a beautiful setting. Lunch and dinner are served Monday through Friday. There is also a resident-run café at the Diane and Mark Goldman Family Residences at 1550 Beacon Street that offers lunch three times per week. Residents are billed monthly for the meal plan they choose. Dedicated to providing residents easy access to a variety of healthful, easy-to-prepare meals, the Brookline Bodega store offers seniors another spot to socialize and gather. The store operates from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday although hours are flexible based on demand.

Hebrew SeniorLife fitness trainer helps an older woman exercise on a machine designed for geriatric fitness.

Fitness

Our state-of-the-art fitness centers offer supervised exercise programs for residents including comprehensive physical evaluations by experienced exercise professionals, progressive strength training, flexibility training, cardiovascular training, and group exercise classes.

A resident has his blood pressure taken as part of wellness programs offered at Center Communities of Brookline in Brookline, MA

Personalized care coordination

Access to a Wellness Team

At Center Communities of Brookline, we offer an award-winning program that integrates wellness teams into senior communities. The team can help you address and overcome any barriers to face to your health and coordinate with your entire health care team.

Support For a Healthy Life

What People are saying about Hebrew SeniorLife

  • "I have found 'peace of mind here' — CCB is a secure, well-managed environment that balances and blends private apartment living and shared social interaction."

    Resident

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Animal Models May Help Researchers Understand the Biology of Delirium in Humans

A new research paper provides useful guidelines and suggestions to other scientists.

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Using animal models in research, especially rodents, to reveal the biology of delirium can serve as a valuable approach for understanding delirium in human patients, according to a new review paper published today in Alzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association. The paper developed by the NIH-funded Network for Investigation of Delirium: Unifying Scientists (NIDUS) provides key recommendations to scientists studying delirium, which may serve to unify and guide the new and burgeoning field of delirium biology.

The first author of the paper, Preclinical and Translational Models for Delirium:  Recommendations for Future Research from the NIDUS Delirium Network, is Sarinnapha M. Vasunilashorn, PhD, Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Division of General Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and a member of the Aging Brain Center Working Group at the Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research at Hebrew SeniorLife.

“Delirium is a complex syndrome that requires careful study across multiple model systems (e.g., humans and animals) to understand what is happening at the cellular level of the brain and body,” said Dr. Vasunilashorn.  “There remains much room for growth in the field of delirium research. This research paper provides useful guidelines and suggestions to other scientists, with the overall goal of helping advance preclinical research for delirium,” she said.

Delirium is a clinical syndrome characterized by an acute decline in cognition, which can present as inattention, disorientation, lethargy or agitation, and perceptual disturbance. Delirium is common among older hospitalized patients, and can lead to poor outcomes, including prolonged hospital stays, deep psychological stress for patients and their families, functional decline, and Alzheimer’s and related dementias (ADRD).  In fact, a campaign to reduce delirium has been championed by this journal in the hope of reducing the burden of ADRD.  Delirium is also associated with death.  With in-hospital mortality rates for patients with delirium of 25–33 percent and annual health care costs in excess of $182 billion in the U.S. alone, delirium has garnered increasing attention as a worldwide public health and patient safety priority.

“This paper discusses the use of preclinical and translational animal models for delirium by addressing the current limitations in our understanding of the neurobiology of delirium. The authors discuss the promise (and limitations) of preclinical and translational models for delirium in advancing the current knowledge of delirium pathophysiology and informing the development of new prevention and treatment approaches,” said senior author Sharon K. Inouye, M.D., M.P.H., Director of the Aging Brain Center at the Marcus Institute and principal investigator of the NIDUS Delirium Network.    

Other key authors on this work include: Nadia Lunardi, MD, PhD, University of Virginia (co-first author); Roderic Eckenhoff, MD, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (co-senior author); Niccolo Terrando, PhD, Duke University (co-senior author); along with 13 interdisciplinary experts from institutions around the world.  

Funding is provided by National Institute on Aging: Grant No. R33AG071744 to the Network for Investigation of Delirium Unifying Scientists (NIDUS); K01AG057836 and Alzheimer’s Association: AARF-18-560786 and AARG-22-917342 to Dr. Vasunilashorn; and the International Society to Advance Alzheimer's Research and Treatment (ISTAART).

Additional Information  

In this paper, an expert panel of delirium researchers and animal model investigators outline key considerations in the development of preclinical and translational models for understanding delirium pathophysiology. This includes:

  1. Given that delirium is a complex behavioral syndrome, it is impossible to adopt a single animal model that will perfectly mirror all aspects of human delirium. This paper makes the important distinction that animal models for (and not of) delirium should be the desired goal, achievable through using a set of cognitive and behavioral tests to identify features that resemble human delirium across several animal models (i.e., no single animal model for delirium will suffice).
  2. From human studies, several promising biofluid, neurophysiologic, and electrophysiologic markers have emerged that point to the role of inflammation, as well as brain cellular stress and injury. To determine the directionality of the relationships of these markers with delirium, animal models can be used to validate and expand on the observations in human studies. 
  3. As more knowledge of delirium is gained, animal models should become an integral part of a whole systems approach to investigating delirium neurobiology. Such approaches will combine multiple strategies across disciplines, providing that future advances in clinical medicine may become more readily available, and helping to improve the healthcare of older adults who experience delirium.

About The Aging Brain Center

The Aging Brain Center is dedicated to advancing medical knowledge about delirium and the interface between delirium and dementias, such as Alzheimer’s disease. Each year, more than 12 million older Americans develop delirium, an acute medical condition that presents as an abrupt confusion or a sudden change in cognitive abilities.  Long-term consequences of delirium include increased risks of death, dementia, and prolonged disability.  Delirium is especially common in patients with Alzheimer’s disease, and prevention of delirium in this group of patients is of critical importance.

About Hebrew SeniorLife
Hebrew SeniorLife, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School, was founded in 1903 and today is a national leader dedicated to empowering seniors to live their best lives. Hebrew SeniorLife cares for more than 3,000 seniors a day across six campuses throughout Greater Boston. Locations include: Hebrew Rehabilitation Center-Boston and Hebrew Rehabilitation Center-NewBridge in Dedham; NewBridge on the Charles, Dedham; Orchard Cove, Canton; Simon C. Fireman Community, Randolph; Center Communities of Brookline; and Jack Satter House, Revere. Hebrew SeniorLife also trains more than 1,000 future health care professionals each year, and conducts influential research into aging at the Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research, which has a robust research portfolio whose NIH funding in 2021 places it in the top 10% of NIH-funded institutions. For more information about Hebrew SeniorLife, visit our website or follow us on our blog, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

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