Rockleigh—Shelley Steiner, L.S.W., social worker at the Gallen Adult Day Health Care Center which is part of the Jewish Home at Home, has been chosen Employee of the Month for November 2013. Shelley, a graduate of the Columbia School of Social Work, has been at Gallen since 2002.

Gallen provides supervised day programs to frail seniors, disabled adults and those with cognitive impairment, Steiner explained. “We can improve their quality of life while monitoring their physical needs. And we give their caregivers respite.”

Asked what she enjoys about her work, she said, “I feel I make a difference with participants and the families I work with, advising them and guiding them with information they need to care for family members. The Jewish Home is a health care continuum, but it recognizes that people want to stay at home. By working with them here, we can offer that as an option.” In addition, Steiner works with the Alzheimer’s Association and facilitates the support group for caregivers held at Gallen as well as acting as liaison between Congressman Bill Pascrell and the Alzheimer’s Association to keep him apprised of what’s happening with the disease. “I’m very fortunate to work with an organization that supports these endeavors,” she said.

Her supervisor, Joan DiPaola, R.N., Gallen’s director, said “Shelley is not only a colleague but a great, supportive friend. She is a social worker with an enormous heart and reaches out to help participants enrolled in the program as well as their families. She is a team player and pitches in wherever she’s needed. She’s a great asset here in the Adult Day Health Care Program.”

Residents of Englewood, N.J., Shelley and her husband Jeffrey have three children: Yael, 27, who is an attorney; Ian, 25, who works in real estate equity, and Perri, 22, who is in nursing school.

The Jewish Home Family and its member entities are not-for-profit organizations, providing long-term care, sub-acute, outreach programs and outpatient services for the elderly and their families in Bergen, North Hudson and Rockland counties. For further information or a photo, please call 201-750-1414.