Just like that, with a simple message, without a lot of noise, a member of one of the Ezer Mizion branches sums up the events of one evening:
In the middle of a Daf Yomi shiur (daily study session of Talmud), a friend, one of the participants , asked me to come with him right then (!) to a house where the wife had called for urgent help. As Ezer Mizion volunteers, we often receive calls like this. The woman was frantic saying her husband was having an anxiety attack. We were qualified to handle the situation and raced out.
When we got to the house, we found a young man who looked absolutely normal, like any one of us, in the midst of an extended anxiety attack (a very complex story; this is not the place to go into details).
We encouraged the couple. With a tremendous amount of effort, we were able to calm them and I told them with certainty: “You’ve come to the right place! We’ll be with you, whatever you may need.” I was able to say these words with absolute confidence. I knew that Ezer Mizion has divisions to meet any need they would encounter.
Our first step, after we were able to stabilize the situation, was to contact the Ezer Mizion branch director who came to the home immediately and, under the guidance of Ezer Mizion’s Mental Health Division, took the husband with him for a talk in the office with the appropriate professionals.
My friend and I remained, simply to help put the kids to sleep and make order in the house. The wife was traumatized and in no condition to handle the usual household chores. My friend is great with kids. I’m an expert with a broom. And so we got to work.
Ezer Mizion will send meals. Attractively packed with the little extras that say ‘We care.’
Another Ezer Mizion division will arrange for the wife to get help with the housework and with the children.
And most important!
Late at night at 12:15 AM, after speaking with a funding entity, we were able to arrange the therapy that the husband will need and to procure the funds to cover it.
In addition, Ezer Mizion arranged for a babysitter to watch the kids at night so that his wife can also come to the therapy sessions.
There will be other needs, some big, some small, as the family attempts to regain its stability. Practical needs, professional needs, emotional needs. Ezer Mizion, with its varied departments, will be there for them like a loving mother holding their hands, supporting them as they begin their climb upwards.
It makes me proud to be associated with an organization that has the capability of saving an entire household. The many Ezer Mizion services will help cushion the trauma that, without Ezer Mizion, would threaten to destroy the very fabric of the family unit.
Oh, and in case you’re wondering, we are both caught up on the Daf.
Ezer Mizion provides services to over 660,000 of Israel’s population annually in addition to its Bone Marrow Registry which saves the lives of Jewish cancer patients the world over.
