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The Jewish Crohn’s and Colitis Support Group (JCCSG)

Founded in 2011 by individuals personally affected by Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, the JCCSG was established to improve the quality of life for children and adults living with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) in the Jewish community and beyond.
Since our inception, JCCSG has responded to over 50,000  calls of requests for support, offering guidance, information, advocacy, and hope to patients across the United States, Canada, the UK, Belgium, and Israel.

Understanding the Challenge

Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, known as Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis are genetically complex (with Ashkenazi Jews having an incidence of the disease at 4-5 times the general population), chronic, painful conditions that have debilitating physical and psychological effects. Prejudicial assumptions and confusion creates even larger hurdles for our patients who grapple with cultural and psychological stereotyping. Yet, our patients try their best to have full lives and meet their responsibilities and the expectations of the community. Patients face special issues in coping with the symptoms and side effects of their IBD. Combine this with the cloak of shame and secrecy surrounding any chronic and genetic disorder in the Jewish communities and the outcomes for patients, are truly calamitous and actually life-threatening.

Our Response

JCCSG exists to lift that burden, creating a space where patients and families are seen, heard, supported, and connected. Through education, advocacy, peer support, medical navigation, and awareness-building, we empower individuals to manage their illness, access proper care, and live fuller, healthier lives—with dignity and without fear.

Our Mission: To provide Advocacy, Education, Food & Ostomy Gemach, Help, Information, Medical Referrals, Medication Traveling Help, Research, and Support to the people of the Orthodox Jewish community who are suffering from Crohn’s disease and Ulcerative Colitis; To improve the quality of life of children and adults affected by these diseases. And to spread awareness within the Jewish communities.

Yoely Drummer

Founder & Executive Director

JCCSG is a recognized 501(c)3 organization, with its mission to provide:

  • ADVOCACY, We were very instrumental in passing the New York State Ostomy Supplies Bill, a legislation which mandates that all health insurers in the state provide coverage of ostomy supplies. And recently made the news about our key role in passing the “Crohn’s & Colitis Fairness Act – NY State Restroom Access Act”, also known as “The Ally’s Law”, in Assembly and in Senate, and recently signed by the governor of NY. This is a bill that will allow people with qualifiable medical conditions, like IBD, access to employee restrooms in the workplace. As Senator Simcha Felder wrote in his press release: “The strong and steady advocacy of the JCCSG has contributed greatly to bringing this legislation to the fore and I am proud to have played a role in helping them see the Fairness Act become a reality,”. And told Vinnews.com “This bill is very important and very personal to me and while it wasn’t my idea once I was happy to come on board and provide my assistance in any way possible,” said Felder. “It just goes to show you that when they say ‘you can’t fight City Hall’ it just isn’t true. When dedicated people decide they want to do something and are persistent, they really can make things happen. The moral of the story here is that people should never give up.”
  • EDUCATION, such as Lectures, over the past five and a half years we have arranged ten co-educational Symposiums, each with attendance between 100 and 300 people. Covering various areas in New York and New Jersey, Four were in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY, two in Borough Park, Brooklyn, NY, two in Monroe, NY, one in Monsey, NY, one in Lakewood, NJ, and one in Crown-Heights, Brooklyn NY. Where we discussed awareness on IBD. How to treat it medically, advised by gastroenterologists and pediatric Doctors. Lectures on how diet can help by nutritionists. Infertility and pregnancy, as well as the obstacles and ethical questions we face when it comes to Shidduchim (Jewish arranged marriage).
  • HELP – Helping patients and their families in making decisions about mendication options, whule we are communicating with the doctors to discuss the best options and providing the proper education to the patient and their family. Our help extends to  Medical Record Reviews, gathering patients’ medical records when crucial treatment decisions are needed. As well as conncecting the the right nutritionist and dietitinas to help the patients follow a healthly diet.
  • INFORMATION for individuals and families, especially those that were newly diagnosed, to empower the people to manage their disease, their spouses disease and their children’s disease more successfully. We help families navigate Shidduchim (Jewish arranged marriage), formulating and sharing the correct medical information to all parties involved to help alleviate concerns.
  • MEDICAL REFERRALS for a wide range of doctors in the field, from expediting wait time for faster appointments, and easier access to top medical care to consulting specialists and obtaining expert Second Opinions. We work on daily basis with the Medical professionals to open lines of dialogues between patients and physicians, to promote better adherence to medications and other treatments. To demystify the diseases, surgical options, fertility and intimacy issues.
  • MEDICATION TRAVELING HELP – Helping organizing shippoing patients medications to their destinations when they are out of the county for a short time, giving them the opportunity to live their life to the fullest extent possible with having the burden of n being able to study or doything lieser because of their medicaqtion.
  • RESEARCH We play a key role in an ongoing “Road to Prevention” Research study, which we launched several events together with Mount Sinai Medical Center, specifically designated on how we can involve the Jewish community, specifically those of Ashkenazi European descent in an important research study, a program dedicated to studying life before IBD. The Doctors of Mount Sinai believe that by working in this direction they hope to develop the means of prevention and ultimately a cure. We also partnered with the Program for Jewish Genetic Health which a joint initiative between Yeshiva University and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Together we have launched an Online Learning Series about IBD.
  • SUPPORT in every aspect possible, we have several support groups for people with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, we have an up and running text group, where they share information support each other through often difficult times, having a good laugh and even exchanging a recipe with someone in the same boat has a different flavor… we arranged big support group gatherings, in addition to the local areas smaller support groups get togethers. Seral WEhatsApp groups for Women with IBD, Men with IBD, Mother of kids with IBD and for Wife’s who living with an IBD’er…
  • SPREADING AWARENESS We are spreading awareness within the communities, to reduce the stigma and fear associated with a genetic illness within the Jewish community. To decrease the sense of isolation and victimization often felt by chronic disease sufferers by opening up new avenues of communication and creating an enhanced sense of community and empowerment.