The ALEH daycare center on Uziel Street in Bnei Brak houses about 60 boys and girls, boys and girls, with increasingly complex medical conditions. During an alarm, all that remains for their caregivers is to pray that a missile does not hit the old building – since these children are bedridden and there is no realistic possibility of evacuating them within a minute and a half to the building's old shelter.
In addition, another 30 adults with disabilities live in the center, and they too do not have a protective response.
Rabbi Yehuda Marmorstein, founder and CEO of ALEH, the national network for the care of children and adults with disabilities, warns that he cannot accept this heavy responsibility, and that even the caregivers at the daycare center threaten to leave because they do not feel protected. Two had already resigned from the Mossad two weeks ago, after one of the heavy barrages fired at the center of the country. For the center, which already suffers from a shortage of workers, like the entire field in Israel, this is a severe blow.
As stated, the residence has about 90 residents, 60 of whom are of school age with moderate and severe disabilities, many with complex medical conditions that include connection to oxygen cylinders, regular use of diapers, confinement to bed, etc. There are ten classrooms, and the daycare provides these children with a rehabilitation and therapeutic envelope. Many of the children hospitalized at the daycare center were injured in domestic accidents of one kind or another - drowning in the bath or pool, riding a scooter and more.
"During the day, the children are in the classrooms," says Rabbi Marmorstein. "If there's an alarm, we can't evacuate them in time to the old shelter, which was built 40 years ago, and it's already small and doesn't have room for everyone.
Rabbi Yehuda Marmorstein, Photo: Meir Alfasi
"Most of the children are in complex nursing care and are bedridden. I can't evacuate 60 children to the shelter, and we just pin them to the walls of the classrooms and pray for the best. The two employees who left us told me explicitly that they were afraid to be here without protection. How can I accept responsibility for not being able to evacuate these children?"
The residence recently completed a plan to protect the entire building. In the four-story dormitory, the plan is to install a large protected space on each floor that will have enough space to fit beds, and will allow preparations for extended stays in the protected space if necessary, including the possibility of connecting oxygen cylinders and showers for children. The cost is about 4.5 million shekels, and Rabbi Marmorstein hopes that the Ministry of Education, which is responsible for protecting schools, will find a budget for this.
The war will not end tomorrow
"The war will not end tomorrow. Gush Dan became a front. What are we waiting for? Will disaster happen? You can't live with those fears. These kids understand, too. It is true that they are nursing, but they understand and see the fear of their caregivers. They feel what's going on around them, and it affects them."
The Ministry of Education said: "The protection gaps in educational institutions stand at about 20% on average throughout the country, and are the result of an ongoing situation and state decisions over the years, as well as due to the reference scenario for preparations for a war that will last three weeks.
"In general, filling the protection gaps requires huge budgets dedicated and external to the Ministry of Education. In addition, there are guidelines and instructions in the Emergency Director General's Circular on how principals and directors of education departments in local authorities must prepare and act within protective restrictions.
"As for the institution in Bnei Brak, there is a shelter on the ground floor where two different classes study every day. In the event of an alarm, the rest of the students in the institution should follow the 'most protected' plan (staircase, inner room, etc.).
"In addition, the ministry approved assistance hours for the institution in order to increase the manpower, so that if necessary they can help the students reach the most protected place possible. In addition, students were given tablets for distance learning if necessary."
Wrong? We'll fix it! If you find a mistake in the article, please share with us