Mikhail and Ida
Mikhail describes JCHE as "a miracle." Mikhail and Ida came to the United Statesin the mid-1990s. They left very prestigious careers in the former Soviet Union - he was a chief cardiologist in a district of Moscow and she was a psychiatrist at a major psychiatric institute. Mikhail eloquently describes the motivation for the move: "I must live as a free man." Life in Moscow was so difficult and anti-Semitism was so pervasive that the couple was willing to begin anew in a country whose language they didn't speak. After several years in New York, they moved into JCHE's Leventhal House in 1998.
"We have an interesting life here," says Ida. "We are very busy doing exercises for our minds!" At JCHE, they took classes for the U.S. citizenship exam, and, in 2001, they became citizens. This enormous milestone was acknowledged at JCHE's Independence Day Celebration - an annual event that honors all the tenants who have become citizens in the past year. For over five years, Ida and Mikhail have spent countless hours as escorts for JCHE's Congregate Housing Program, part of CaringChoicesTM, an in-home assistance program. Mikhail regularly accompanies less able neighbors to a daily lunch in the Ulin House dining room, and they both escort people to doctors' appointments. Outside of JCHE, Mikhail chairs the Boston branch of the American Russian Medical Society, bringing physicians from the area together to discuss medical issues. Ida studies literature and photography at Roxbury Community College. They love to research and visit historical sites in the Boston area. Mikhail explains, "We want to know everything about American history!"
