How 3 women are helping Fort Worth seniors hit hard by coronavirus pandemic

Imagine being stuck at home for months — not able to see family or even go to the grocery store. That’s been the reality for some senior citizens because of COVID-19.

Hedy Collins knows a few of them.

She is the director of the senior citizens program at Jewish Family Services in Fort Worth and said the seniors who haven’t left their homes have been “miserable” for months. Even seniors who still do their errands worry, Collins said.

But despite the fear caused by the pandemic, the seniors at Jewish Family Services can count on three women who keep the program going: Collins, Marge Van Giesen and Nurjanti “Miau Lin” Tjahjadi.

Carole Rogers, the director of Jewish Family Services, calls them “The Terrific Trio” because she said they work so well together to make the program possible. She nominated them for recognition in the Star-Telegram Hometown Heroes series.

“They all have the biggest hearts, all three of them,” Rogers said.

Hometown Heroes is sponsored by Lockheed Martin, which is providing $1,000 each week over 28 weeks to those selected by the Star-Telegram to be featured in the series.

When the pandemic hit, all senior programs in Fort Worth came to a halt. The seniors with Jewish Family Services used to go on day trips, play board games, exercise, enjoy hot meals, go shopping and do many other things.

Even though the pandemic upended reality for older adults, “The Terrific Trio” continued to serve their seniors.

Every other week, the three women deliver shelf-stable meals to every senior enrolled in the program. The meals are sponsored by Sixty and Better, a nonprofit that focuses on serving older adults. Then every Friday, every senior is delivered a hot meal from a restaurant.

They also deliver the seniors their medicines and games to keep them entertained. All the seniors also get two phone calls a week just so they’re checked up on.

There’s about 45 enrolled in the program and being Jewish isn’t a requirement, Collins said.

She said that they must be 60 or older and are only asked to donate $2 to Sixty and Better for the meals, but she said most of them donate whatever they can.

Collins has been leading the program during the pandemic and Rogers said it’s her selflessness that drives her. Rogers said she “puts the seniors above her own health concerns” considering that Collins is an older adult herself. She’s in her 60s.

“She didn’t even think of being at-risk,” Rogers said. “She immediately started organizing things so the seniors have all the food they need, their medicines, anything they need.”

The seniors have also received poems in the mail written by Van Giesen herself.

Van Giesen is a retired speech pathologist but retirement didn’t sit well with her, so she got involved with Jewish Family Services last October to have something to do. One of the things she’s enjoyed the most is writing the seniors poems, she said.

“One of the things that we do is keep in touch with the seniors through the mail,” Van Giesen said. “We have some seniors who are Russian and some who are Hispanic so I’m not sure if they can understand what I’m writing but I write to them about what’s happening and that we’re thinking about them.”

She said that what they’re doing for their seniors is important because “all of this is very frightening for them.”

Lora Goldin, 84, who is enrolled in the program, said the phone calls and the poems make her day a little better each time.

She immigrated to the United States from the Soviet Union in 1979 along with other Jewish people, and she worked several jobs with budgeting and income tax companies.

She came to Fort Worth in 2011 and she got involved with Jewish Family Services shortly after. She describes Collins as someone “intelligent” and she thinks that Tjahjadi, is “absolutely nice.”

Tjahjadi, 59, was born to Chinese parents in Jakarta, Indonesia, and immigrated to the United States in 1998 as a refugee with her sister. Then after 11 years, she became a U.S. citizen.

She and her sister ended up in Fort Worth in 2005 where she eventually snagged a job at Jewish Family Services.

Tjahjadi said she would always bond with Russian and Hispanic seniors over how English is their second language. She said she’s always enjoyed their company.

Rogers, Collins, Van Giesen and Goldin talk about how Tjahjadi’s kindness is the one trait that describes her the most.

“The seniors love her for her gentleness and her kindness,” Rogers said. “She’s never gotten angry or upset. I’ve never seen her frustrated or seen her raise her voice. She’s just pure and innocent.”

Rogers talked about all the things Tjahjadi would go out of her way to do for the seniors.

“I literally have to fight with these women every year for them to take their vacation time,” Rogers said. “They are just so dedicated to the seniors.”

Rogers nominated the three women as a group because “it has to be all three of them working together, otherwise everything they’ve accomplished could’ve never happened.”

“They’re just so important as a group. I couldn’t have nominated just one person,” she said.

To nominate a hometown hero

To nominate someone to be featured in the Hometown Heroes series, go to star-telegram.com/nominate.

This story was originally published August 6, 2020 at 5:45 AM.