“45 years back,” recalls one of the early Ezer Mizion volunteers, “the little organization of Ezer Mizion was located in a room and a half in the Chollak family’s home. Four people provided a response to the stream of calls, and surrounding them – medical equipment for loan, huge pots in the kitchen to provide hot meals for families at the bedside of a seriously ill patient, and a telephone with a long, winding cord. Rebbetzin Chollak a”h, with her renowned wit, quipped: “Don’t worry. It’s like this just at the beginning. Later it’ll be much worse”
Ezer Mizion now resides in multiple state of the art buildings and serves 750,000 annually. Its many divisions were each born when the specific need was recognized. One of the more recent ‘births’ was the Mental Health Division which is constantly evolving as it provides more and more professional services for both the patient and his family.
Its ultimate goal, of course, is improvement in the patient’s mental state. In many cases, one of the paths leading toward improvement is the feeling of accomplishment, a need we all share. If accomplishment is the road to the goal, their issues are the roadblock. No firm will hire a person, as talented as he may be, who cannot be relied upon.
And so Ezer Mizion became the means of not only identifying the road but actually paving it.
The current Ezer Mizion Kitchens that produce 650,000 meals for families at the hospital are no longer located in the Chollak apartment. A ‘brief’ tour of one of them in Bnei Brak took over an hour. Shiny, new cutting edge equipment line the walls. The meals, cooked from scratch, are attractively packed and of the highest caliber. The end result is two-fold: Hot meals for families facing a crisis and a feeling of accomplishment for the producers. Yes, you guessed correctly. Selected mental health patients stand behind those counters, and, under the guidance of a coach, peel, slice, fry their way towards a healthy mental state.
This project has proven so successful that it was soon to be duplicated. Anyone visiting a major hospital in Israel will find Ezer Mizion Refreshment Carts at strategic places, ready to provide that so very essential pick-me-up for the distraught family member and the over-worked staff. Both are doing their best to give the patient their all but often find themselves running on empty. Coffee, to the recipient’s liking, is brewed on the spot but the accompanying cake needs to be baked, sliced and packaged. By whom? Ezer Mizion’s Sarale’s Bakery Shop was recently founded and integrated with the Mental Health Division. Talented women have been hired to produce cake and pastries for the Ezer Mizion Hospital Refreshment Carts.
And the men? Many of them are extremely handy but unable to hold down a job due to their mental health issues. Among the variety of items lent out at Ezer Mizion’s Equipment Loan Division, there are a number that require capable hands, precision, patience, and perseverance to assemble. Due to the great demands and the complexity of the assembly of one of these items, the need arose to find a creative solution. The unique collaboration with the Mental Health Division was the answer. As part of a sheltered work program, dozens of clients with good technical skills, thoroughness, and motivation are employed in equipment assembly. They were thrilled to receive a new area of responsibility that is close to their hearts! And we are thrilled with the results.
