Lookout on Chessed

Author of the Blog: Mikimi Steinberg                            
Yad Sarah of Safed - What You See is What You Get – Or Is It? 

         The Yad Sarah branch of Safed is located in the basement of the Sieff Hospital in the southern part of this Northern city of the country. But it wasn’t always there. When Yad Sarah first opened in Safed under the administration of R’ Arye Frumovitz (a long-time friend of now Mayor of Yerushalayim, R’ Uri Lupoliansky), it was in the Old City opposite the Sanz Shul. That was some 23 years ago. It was open twice a week – on Monday and Thursday evenings from 5pm-7pm with a small branch also at the hospital. Fifteen years ago the branch in town closed when a place was allocated in the hospital for Yad Sarah thus enabling more people to benefit from its services. The hours are now 10:30-12am five days a week.

          Run by caring, courteous and pleasant volunteers whose aim is only to help the many who enter its doors, Yad Sarah of Safed provides the community with not just the basics of medical equipment but also the sense of camaraderie that one is not alone. And in a most “unusual” scenario, all of the volunteers (some of whom have been at it for more years than they can remember) so far have been and are Chareidi (Ultra Orthodox). These volunteers, that at present are five in number –are all Israeli including the administrator, R’ Arye who “lives” and breathes Yad Sarah.

        As a resident of Safed for many years, I can only relate my personal experiences of frequenting Yad Sarah - not withstanding the great acts of kindnesses and generosity that were a conduit thru Yad Sarah during the Second War between Israel and Lebanon this past summer – as I, myself, was not here in Safed to experience them. During the War when many people of the city “escaped” in fear and those that stayed (some by choice), R’ Arye and his family stayed in Safed. On a daily basis he went down to the hospital to open Yad Sarah just in case someone needed something. People did come – but very few.

        The clientele are from all walks of life. The native Israeli, the Arab, the Druze, the UN soldier, Russian, Ethiopian - and every other immigrant that shows up in need. No one is turned away. A person sometimes comes in looking for help for a relative in a “compromised” situation (an elderly parent) and Yad Sarah is there for them. So too, it is with the tourist in need.

        In my interviews with 2 of the volunteers at Yad Sarah, I asked each of them if there were any circumstances that stuck out in their minds. Each related to me different incidents that they were involved in. Here are a few:

       One case is of two brothers who come in from a kibbutz to ask for advice to do with their father after a stroke. Medical equipment they could get on the kibbutz but as they were already there in the hospital visiting their father, they also went in to Yad Sarah. As the volunteer was talking with these two brothers – sons to their father – she realized how loving and devoted they were to their father in their concern for his physical well-being. They were educated, intellectual men but it did not occur to them to arrange for themselves to be physically available to their father after his stroke when he returned home. They left Yad Sarah with a feeling as if a weight had been lifted off their chests as they now knew better how to care for their father because someone listened to them and guided them.

       Another incident was of an elderly man that came into Yad Sarah in a hopeless and confused state of mind, at his wit’s end not even knowing where, what or how to start to ask for help for himself. The volunteer listened to him and talked with him, even calling his son and helping to find a solution – which the three of them did successfully.

      Another time an older woman, a survivor of the Shoah (Holocaust) came in to Yad Sarah asking for help. She needed assistance in filling out forms to receive reparations from the German government. The volunteer tried to help, but this woman had come in without her Teudat Zehut (Israel I.D. card) and it was crucial to the forms. She never took her Teudat Zehut with her – it was too reminiscent of the Yellow Star worn in the ghettos of Europe during those War Years. The end result was that the volunteer called a supervisor in charge of Yad Sarah for the North and was told that Yad Sarah is also responsible for this service. And another person was helped by Yad Sarah.

         I, myself, have benefited tremendously from the availability of Yad Sarah. Sixteen years ago my daughter had a bone osteotomy for Legg-Calve Perthes. After her surgery, I was in the Yad Sarah in dire need of their assistance – especially as a single-parent. After the War in the North this past summer of 2006, I underwent an Ankle Fusion (that was supposed to have taken place on July 20, 2006 but was postponed due to the War), and as I was not in my own home (due to katyusha damage in a small area of my apartment, I was put up in a hotel by the government) I borrowed a walker, crutches and a wheelchair. And as time passed and I saw I was still in need of these items, I would renew my status with the volunteer on duty.

       The actual space (about 50 square meters) in the room in the hospital is quite small yet it is amazing the amount of medical equipment and paraphernalia that are displayed. Just off-hand, and without my standing in the middle of the room, I will briefly describe the small area in which is successfully store the varied items. One enters the room, and there is the desk and chairs opposite it. One looks  around at the almost three quarters of the walls of the room that  are wall-to-wall metal shelves on which – classified by type - are breathing apparatus (oxygen, vaporizers); “helping aids”/personal hygiene – toilet seats or “chairs” for the bath, mattress pads to prevent pressure sores; pediatric - bassinets, baby monitors, nursing pumps, car seats; electronical items-blood pressure, glucose, baby monitor.. In the middle of the room are several types of walkers lined up as “Dominoes” or “choo-choo train-style”. On one wall under the metal shelves are many sizes and styles of wheelchairs. And in a far corner are the numerous crutches – wooden and “Canadian” metal – some stacked in a round bin and some “looped” on a hanging rack. I am always amazed at how many items there are – and if something is not there, the staff tries their best to order it via the catalogue.

        Sometimes it just is not possible and one has to buy out of one’s own pocket. But for the most part, many items are available for a minimal fee left as collateral.

        If a person needs an item (i.e. a wheelchair) for an extended amount of time (as in an elderly relative or a degenerative disease), with a “prescription” of recommendation from a doctor said item can be bought through the Yad Sarah organization and the correct company/manufacture at a lower price than if one had gone through a medical/orthopedic store. Of course all documentation and forms have to be filled.

         At one point, and in conjunction with another organization, Mifal HaChessed of Hatzor, provided Mehadrin “home-made” meals that were available at a minimal cost. At present, this has been discontinued.

      R’ Frumovitz has high hopes for the future of Yad Sarah. The hospital has “promised” to expand the area (possibly another room) in which Yad Sarah is now, thus enabling the acquirement of other larger items – such as special beds or respirators that until now have been impossible to provide.  The only question is, when?