The Miami Jewish Home stands as a testament to generations of concerned women and men whose vision led to the creation of a place where the elderly would be treated with dignity and respect. Those individuals then set their ideals in motion, contributing their energy, resources and compassion to make their dream a reality.

On July 25, 1940, the late civic leader Ida Cohen and other community activists signed the articles of incorporation for the Jewish Home. Their plan to provide a home for elderly Jews who had been widowed was greatly assisted by philanthropist Adam Reiss, a German-born Lutheran who left bequests of $10,000 to three major religions to fund homes for the aged. Buoyed by the generous contributions of money, time and talent from Reiss and other fundraisers, the Home opened its 23-bed facility on December 18, 1945, in a modest one-story house at 335 Southwest 12th Avenue in Miami.

It would not take long for South Florida's burgeoning population of elderly Jews, many of whom had outlived their family and friends, to retreat to the medical care and comforts of the Home. With the list of applicants for residency at the Home continuing to multiply beyond capacity in the beginning years, the founders' fruits of labor were now ripe for growth. Therefore, in 1949, the Jewish Home for the Aged's leaders purchased Douglas Gardens, a beautiful, seven-acre wooded estate in Northeast Miami that once served as the home of pioneer merchant E.B. Douglas and family.

The 1950s and 1960s were a time of heightened construction activity on campus, as the Home's original one-story wooden bungalows gave way to new buildings. One of the first of these structures, the Jack A. Ablin Memorial Building, was the nation's first facility specially designed and equipped for chronically ill and incapacitated older adults. In keeping with program objectives, the Miami Jewish Home offered another benefit to the elderly population by extending admission priority to the chronically ill aged who were unable to live independently in the general community.

In 1956, officials took the first step in Douglas Gardens' long-range plan to replace the original cottages with pavilions by establishing the Gus Trau Pavilion. Revolutionary for its time, the Trau Pavilion represented a sharp departure from traditional institutional living, with each of its 12 rooms opening onto a patio surrounded by flowerbeds. The Home would build four more pavilions in the following three years.

A distinctly residential ambiance surrounds the tropically landscaped Douglas Gardens Campus. Serving as a "Community Center," the Ruby Auditorium, dedicated in 1968, adds to this warm sense of home by providing the setting for monthly birthday parties, holiday celebrations and special events.

By the end of the 1970s, the Home was providing skilled nursing care to 376 seniors, with 800 on the waiting list. In an effort to alleviate the shortage, a second skilled nursing facility was constructed in 1977 through the generous financial support of Polly deHirsch Meyer

The Sam and Isabel May Visitors Center became Douglas Gardens' "front parlor," a reception area to welcome family and friends to our Home. Another choice in the growing menu of care options became available when Irving Cypen Tower opened as an apartment building for independent seniors in 1981. During the latter part of this same year, Louis and Bess Stein endowed the Stein Gerontological Institute, the research and education division of Douglas Gardens devoted to helping seniors live healthier, more independent lives.

With the subsequent dedication of the Harry Chernin Skilled Nursing Building in 1985, the number of frail elderly receiving skilled nursing services surpassed the 500 mark. The Louis C. Fischer Alzheimer's Adult Day Services program, provides services for those with Alzheimer's disease and respite for the primary caregiver. Complimenting this facility, the Gumenick Alzheimer's Respite Center, a day program, opened in 1987.

Expansion continued at a furious pace in the final decade of the 20th century. The Harold and Patricia Toppel Center for Life Enhancement, featuring the Miriam and Sidney Olson Hospital opened. The Toppel Center contains the Shirley M. and Charles S. Krone Tower Suites, which offer a level of accommodations usually not found in long-term care facilities. The original Art Deco Douglas Gardens home was renovated to become the Mollye and Howard LaBow Residents Marketplace, further enhancing the campus' community-like offerings.

To properly address the multiple needs of South Florida's population, the Miami Jewish Home pioneered a full spectrum of community and residential services over the years, such as the first adult day care center in Miami-Dade County. The first freestanding geriatric mental health center in South Florida was the Douglas Gardens Community Mental Health Center of Miami Beach, Inc. A leader in the management and delivery of home-based services to people throughout the community, the nation's first "Channeling" program was launched as a model program in 1986.

The Home established an additional presence in Broward County with the acquisition of the Count and Countess deHoernle Alzheimer's Pavilion in Deerfield Beach.

In 1999, the Florida legislature passed HB1971, which was signed into law by Governor Jeb Bush. This bill enabled legislators to establish the state's first Teaching Nursing Home at the Miami Jewish Home, which is dedicated to the education and training of the next generation of caregivers for the elderly.

The 1999 opening of Hazel Cypen Tower, an assisted living facility, completed the circle of care options offered by the Home. In 2002, the Home expanded its services with the opening of Douglas Gardens Hospice, Douglas Gardens Home Care and the State's first and only Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE).

In May 2003, the Sonderling Pavilion was opened and anchors the grand entranceway to the Home houses the Philip & Alice Moore Center for Human Resources and the May Learning Center, the latter of which facilitiates the Home's clinical education efforts.

Noted community philanthropist Isabel May , established a Biofeedback Laboratory to assist disabled individuals of all age groups in 1998. In addition, Douglas Gardens is home to an Institute for Therapeutic Programs benefiting seniors with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias, and jointly named in honor of Sam and Isabel May.

The Home reached out in 2004 to those affected by chronic and debilitating pain by unveiling a new cutting-edge facility, the internationally renowned Rosomoff Comprehensive Pain Center at Douglas Gardens.

The world-renowned Brucker Biofeedback Center continue to provide sophisticated biofeedback techniques for muscle reeducation to patients of all ages from around the world who come to the Douglas Gardens Campus.

MJHH opened special care units, for ventilator-dependent patients, including those individuals with brain and spinal cord injuries. Another new program, the Medicaid Alzheimer's Project, began operations for the extraordinary needs of individuals with Alzheimer's disease and their families.

Recently, the Memory Center of Douglas Gardens, New Beginnings Behavioral Health Program, Project Independence and the Balance Center were also added to the Home's roster of services.

In 2006, on a 26-acre site in Pembroke Pines, known as Douglas Gardens North, the opening and dedication of the Albert and Ann Jacobs Building, a HUD Section 202 affordable housing for the elderly apartment complex, confirmed MJHH's status as a truly regional resource for the elderly of South Florida.

From its humble beginnings as a small retirement home to its current status as the Southeast's premier geriatric care center, MJHH has been dedicated to providing a place of beauty and love where life is enhanced and enriched. Over time, the needs may change but the purpose remains the same: to bring a sense of hope, belonging, and well being to each person served by the Miami Jewish Home and Hospital.