Please Help Israel’s Injured

PROJECT MOBILITY is a new charitable project by Rofeh Cholim Association to improve physical rehabilitation of  the injured Israelis  We donate advanced rehabilitation technology to health care teams in Israel.

Amongst the efforts to help Israel cope since October 7^th is a creative initiative that combines high-tech thinking with old-fashioned caring to deliver innovative treatment for injured Israelis. The proposed solution is expected to have an outsized positive impact if a bit of financial support at a grassroots level emerges now to get the initiative into full swing.

Thousands of IDF and civilians have been injured since October. This is more than the loss of life that we hear about in the headlines because media casualty reports usually focus on tragic fatalities.  There is a much larger number of wounded, with stubborn physical injuries, and this number grows daily.  The impact of these injuries on individuals and the nation is immense.  Israel’s health care system is trying to cope with a surge in long term physical rehabilitation needs of the IDF and the  civilian injured population. This has created a huge backlog in rehabilitation care.  Now, an American charity is launching an initiative that combines a surprisingly simple insight into human nature with sophisticated virtual reality technology to deliver better, faster recovery.

The improved approach harnesses human nature rather than fighting it.  The simple but brilliant insight is to convert what used to be tedious physical therapy (that people avoid) into something that is fun for patients instead, through virtual reality (which patients carry out gladly, and do well).  Amazingly, this adjustment in approach, if done correctly, makes an immediate and dramatic difference in patient outcomes.  It’s a conceptual breakthrough.

This ingenious approach, called Immersive Rehabilitation Exercise (IREX), is the focus of the current initiative.  Better healing and recovery for patients has been observed in dozens of clinical evaluations and hundreds of real-world tests.  There is better case management for physical therapists, better clinical data for medical scientists, greater efficiency for the health care system, lower costs for all and a greater likelihood of people returning to normal living by achieving improved range of motion and mobility.  The American charity, Rofeh Cholim Association, now needs donations to begin implementing the program right away. All other arrangements have been made by the charity and its volunteers, and partners.  The sturdy equipment donated for this program is designed to last many years, delivering long-lasting help to the patients personally, and to their caregivers.

This US-led initiative is called Project Mobility, and the mission is to donate 1,000 IREX units to Israel’s hospitals and clinics, caregivers, and to patients, asap. This would transform the overall flow of rehabilitation treatments in Israel and facilitate over a million patient sessions.  This includes the elderly and other civilians too, in addition to the IDF.  At this scale, the project will have national impact.   American donors are now the key to success.

The charity is IRS registered, and donors receive a tax receipt for their contribution.  Rofeh Cholim Association works in partnership for Project Mobility with Israeli-based Ezrat Achim Medical Assistance Center, located west of Jerusalem.  Ezrat Achim is also a registered charity with delivery vehicles and many volunteers. It has earned the respect of hundreds of thousands of Israelis since its founding in 1972.

Rofeh Cholim Association will supply the IREX equipment through Ezrat Achim for delivery to the recipients in Israel on a first-come, first-served basis.  Rofeh Cholim Association will place an engraved plaque on every sponsored IREX system to bear a permanent message from the donor, if desired. Full details and a video describing PROJECT MOBILITY are available at the project website www.RofehCholimAssociationSupport.org.  This is an exciting new way to sustain the momentum of help to our friends in Israel.