Ezer Mizion

It wasn’t easy to make it to the wedding. I arrived home from work much later than I had planned. There was supper to prepare and homework to do with my kids but frozen pizza and a big sister who actually knew the math better than I did solved both problems and I made it in time for the chupa. I was patting myself on the back when I saw Adina. Adina??? She managed to come? Together with her husband?! Yes, they were both walking in together. Did I say walking? Let me qualify that. Adina’s husband has advanced Parkinsons  and, though he can struggle with a walker for short distances, he is wheelchair-bound much of the time –  a  real challenge for someone who loves people and simchas and lives on the fourth floor…

We sat together, Adina and I. She is a dear friend and neighbor and I was so happy to spend time with her. As the last strains of wedding music began to wind down, I stood up to make my way to the bus stop. A long trip awaited me. I was not looking forward to it. “Wait,” Adina called out. “Would you like a ride?” “It’s not too conventional,” she chuckled. “But much easier than the bus trip. If you wait a bit, the Ezer Mizion ambulance will coming soon to pick up my husband.   There’s room for companions if you don’t mind sitting on a bench.” We met her husband in the lobby. He was glowing. He told his wife he had actually ‘danced’ with the chosson, wheelchair and all. People kept coming up to talk all evening. He felt human again. It had been months since he had gone anywhere except to doctors’ offices. Of course, he appreciates the Ezer Mizion trips to the clinic. Without them his physical condition would deteriorate considerably. “But Ezer Mizion also recognizes a man’s spirit,” he said, his grin lighting up his face like a light bulb. “I’ll remember this evening for weeks.” The “limousine” arrived. The driver helped him in all the while singing chasuna songs with his patient, trying to extend the simcha a bit longer. As we were driven home, Adina mentioned that Ezer Mizion is an organization that realizes that, for people like her husband, it is just as important to help them get to weddings in the evenings as to get to doctor appointments in the morning! Tonight he was not wheelchair-bound. He was simcha-bound.

Ezer Mizion’s Transport Division drives the frail, the elderly, the disabled, the ill to treatment centers, therapy clinics and doctor’s appointments but it doesn’t forget the dreams they have…a trip to the kosel… attending a grandson’s Bar Mitzvah … visiting an equally disabled relative…a fun day at the beach…dreams…