ByJERUSALEM POST STAFF

A new network for lending medical equipment to Jewish communities for free has started across Europe.


Established by the European Rabbinical Centre (RCE), and the European Jewish Association (EJA), the charity project has been created in response the rise of various needs in Jewish communities due to COVID-19 . 

One of the most pressing needs is medical equipment for those who were discharged from hospitalization, due to pressure on the health care system, and were recovering at home. The equipment will cover as many possible needs from birth till old age. Each charity center includes over 300 items, including: oxygen generators, wheelchairs, bathing chairs, crutches, rollers, breast pumps, cots, TENS devices, blood pressure monitors and more, Rabbi Yossi Beinhaker, VP of the European Rabbinical Center, and project manager, said.
Free Medical Equipment for lending in the first charity center on the network in the Ukrainian city of Odessa.
Free Medical Equipment for lending in the first charity center on the network in the Ukrainian city of Odessa. (Credit: Sergey Mamay)
The first center is already working in Odessa, Ukraine and by the end of 2021 there will be 26 centers in Ukraine, Belarus, Bulgaria, Latvia, Romania, Poland, Croatia, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Georgia, and Montenegro, said Rabbi Beinhaker.

"The lending of medical equipment in the format used in Israel does not exist in many European countries and many members of the community simply could not afford to purchase the equipment. We identified this need arose from almost all our conversations with community leaders whose members contracted the disease,” said the European Rabbinical Centre’s General Director, Rabbi Aryeh Goldberg, which operates within the framework of the European Jewish Association (EJA)

“The inauguration of the first center in Ukraine is an exciting milestone, said chairman of the Association of Holocaust Survivors in Odessa, Schwartzman Roman Markowitz. “Holocaust survivors were already given hot meals but, in many cases, could not get up from bed and go to the kitchen to eat them. Now, thanks to the Centre, we can also get free medical equipment."