Ezer Mizion’s volunteer network will step up activity in all the wards Additional manpower desperately needed to meet patients’ needs.
By Y. Sheinfeld
Due to the slowdown to “Shabbat mode” at the Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital, the volunteer network is compelled to step up activity in all the hospital wards.
The Jerusalem branch of Ezer Mizion dispatches more than sixty volunteers each day to the five major Jerusalem hospitals. Most of these volunteers are brought to the hospitals by the organization’s fleet of volunteer drivers (an area where there is constantly a severe shortage, in spite of the admirable, large-scale roster of volunteers). The dedicated volunteers fan out on all the floors and get to work distributing meals, hot and cold drinks, and cake from a mobile cafeteria cart that makes its way through the various wards. Some volunteers take shifts at patients’ bedsides, in response the family’s request. In addition, aides stationed at the hospitals report to the Ezer Mizion branch on patients who have no close family to be with them. These patients are assigned volunteers for all three shifts to be available at their bedside and provide ongoing assistance. Professional service is also provided for patients. The Ezer Mizion branch regularly sends a social service representative to the major local hospitals. The coach passes through the various wards several times a week, meets the patients, and offers assistance.
One of the channels by which volunteers connect to patients is through neighborhood phone hot lines recently initiated in Jerusalem. At the neighborhood hot line, the local coordinator receives requests and can send out volunteers from the area to provide assistance within the neighborhood itself.
As mentioned, the Hadassah Ein Kerem administration recently announced that they would be working in low-key Shabbat mode in all the wards. This situation is liable to get even more serious and reach catastrophic proportions, with the nurses not functioning at full throttle. In light of this, Ezer Mizion has stepped up their volunteer network at the hospital and volunteers are doing whatever they can for the patients’ benefit.
For further info: www.ezermizion.org
