Alyn care center brings joy to Jewish, Arab disabled kids in lockdown

Shachar, the Rehabilitation Educational Medical Day Care Center within the Alyn Orthopedic Hospital and Rehabilitation Center in Jerusalem offers medical care, nursing care and para-medical treatment

By ROSSELLA TERCATIN
ALYN Pediatric and Adolescent Rehabilitation Center (photo credit: ALYN PEDIATRIC AND ADOLESCENT REHABILITATION CENTER)
ALYN Pediatric and Adolescent Rehabilitation Center
(photo credit: ALYN PEDIATRIC AND ADOLESCENT REHABILITATION CENTER)
As coronavirus cases in Israel steadily decrease and restrictions are lifted, the vast majority of pupils in the country have been able to go back to in-person classes, in one form or another.
However, this has often not been the case for children with serious disabilities whose condition places them among the high-risk population and therefore forces them to remain at home.
In order to bring a message of love to their students, the staff at Shachar, the Rehabilitation Educational Medical Day Care Center within the Alyn Orthopedic Hospital and Rehabilitation Center in Jerusalem, decided to go visit them at home and spent Thursday delivering toys, activity materials and smiles to the children and their parents.
Shachar offers medical care, nursing care and para-medical treatment.
“Before the coronavirus outbreak, the children would come to school every day, attending physiotherapy sessions, art therapy, drama and other activities, each according to their needs,” Sigalit Ofer, a medical clown and drama therapist told The Jerusalem Post.
Shachar is attended by 24 children ages four to 18, some of whom without the ability to breathe by themselves. Considering the severity of their conditions, bringing them back to school would be too dangerous, even under the special safety guidelines presented by the Israeli authorities providing a framework for special needs institutions to reopen.
“In the past few months, we have been working with the children on Zoom, but it is not the same,” Ofer explained. “A few days ago, during a staff meeting, I was telling my colleagues how much I wished I could bring the children some games and materials so that we could use them together during the online sessions. Everyone was immediately on board, so we brought the idea to the school and hospital management and we started getting organized.”
On Thursday, staff members went around Jerusalem to meet with the children or, when this was not possible, with the parents.
“It was very touching and exciting, we could not hug or touch, but we saw them, we talked to them, we played a little with those whom we met outdoors, I did some clowning,” Ofer told the Post. “It was also very important for the parents, and especially the mothers, who have been working round-the-clock and feel very lonely and overwhelmed in this situation.”
Many of the students at Alyn are Arab-Israelis or East Jerusalem residents. Shachar staff members therefore not only visited several Arab neighborhoods but also three checkpoints to meet with the families.
“Our team is also mixed. For us at Alyn, this is a very important point: we are an island of sanity, Jewish and Arab staff members and families working together and raising the children together,” Ofer pointed out.
The material delivered will be used during the Zoom activities in the upcoming weeks. Among others, a kit to create a doll was distributed and video-instructions guiding the children through the process have been provided.
While Shachar is looking into the possibilities of returning to physical classrooms – at least for the children that do not suffer from respiratory problems – and about a strategy for the next school year, the staff hopes to organize another in-person visit soon.
“Now that we have done it once and we know where everyone lives, we are looking forward to doing it again,” Ofer explained.
“These are very uncertain times, it is hard for us and hard for the children. We do not know what the future will look like and when we will be able to go back, but it is important for us to feel that, in spite of everything, we can still do something,” she concluded.


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disability