While doing field work for Touro, the Brooklyn-based social worker—who’s currently employed in the Preventive Care Unit of Ohel Children’s Home and Family Services—discovered this expanding, underserved demographic, one she says “is growing and seems to fall through the cracks.”

She describes a 40-year-old female patient suffering from esophageal cancer who came to the nursing home for care. But neither the woman’s sense of isolation, nor her clinical diagnosis, prevented Lazar from instilling her with hope. “Through the group work she felt empowered to stand on her own,” she remembers. “She helped me grow and gave me so much. Today she’s off the feeding tube, in remission and well on her way to gaining the independence she sought.” And Lazar is already blazing her trail to make a difference.

This is Chana Lazar’s story.