Essential help: Since the beginning of the war, hundreds have already turned to the Purple War Room – the hotline for residents of the south and north, established by former MK Shirley Pinto, in cooperation with the "Shaveim" website for people with disabilities, and with the assistance of Mifal Hapayis.
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In Israel, there are about a million and a half men and women with physical, cognitive and mental disabilities, and the center is designed to provide a response to these people, with the understanding that people with disabilities, who are coping with the difficulties of war, have an additional layer of distress that makes it even more difficult.
The hotline is staffed by volunteers from peer sites, editorial staff and reporters. Yaron Frost, co-editor of the site together with Idan Mottola, explains that "the volunteers understand the other side because they themselves cope with disabilities. People with disabilities need help from someone who understands their situation."
Hundreds of inquiries
Shirley Pinto, who in previous rounds of fighting and emergencies, such as the COVID-19 period, established a war room for people with disabilities with a limited number of volunteers, explains that she decided to turn to "equals" in order to create cooperation that would enable a broader response to residents in the combat zones. "Our goal is to provide a precise response to special needs," she said.
The effect of the war: a surge in the number of people seeking mental health support, Photo: Gettyimages
The center matches people who turn with any problem or distress with organizations that can help, and also provides social workers who specialize in treating people with disabilities, therapists who speak sign language, emotional therapists for children with autism, and the like.
"The great anxiety makes it very difficult for people with PTSD, people with physical disabilities, children with autism, and so on," Frost explains. Volunteers in the field, in the south and north, reach out to people who have contacted the operations room and help them find solutions.
So far, hundreds of calls have been received to the war room, most of them from people in need of mental health assistance, parents of children with autism who need assistance and guidance on how to cope with the situation, people with physical disabilities who have difficulty reaching a safe space and ask for assistance with alternative housing, the provision of medications, and more.
Terrorists enter through the gate of Kibbutz Kfar Gaza, October 7, 2023, photo: AP
Eli, a resident of the north, has been dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder following the Second Lebanon War for many years. He lives with his wife and children in Nahariya. When the sirens went off in the north, his post-trauma worsened. "I'm afraid of the moment I hear the alarm again. I panicked, all the anxieties returned. Our safe room is substandard. When we sat there and the door and window didn't close, I felt again the sense of lawlessness I had felt during the war. I got anxious and had flashbacks."
"The whole house is hysterical"
Even watching television and reporting on what was happening in the south did not help calm the soul, he says. "The whole house was hysterical. Fear overtook me. I didn't even go out on the balcony," he said.
ZAKA volunteers at the kibbutzim in the envelope, photo: ZAKA Spokesperson's Office
His wife, who also suffers from PTSD, contacted the purple war room. At first they were provided with a guest apartment in Herzliya, but the sirens in the center of the country did not help calm the anxiety, but only intensified it. The family is currently staying in a guest apartment in Tiberias.
Anyone in need of assistance can contact "Shaveim" on the Facebook page
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