A child falls and needs stitches. An elderly tourist suffers a stroke. An expectant mother needs advice on insurance. The mother of a large family will be at one child’s hospital bedside all Shabbos. A little girl in critical condition needs immediate medical transport to the States.
When a medical crisis hits, English speakers in Israel turn to one address: Chaim V’Chessed. Our medical services department offers advice and support for hospital patients, assistance and advocacy in kupot cholim (healthcare providers), expedited appointments, direction toward food and transportation, assistance with Shabbos arrangements, women’s health guidance and more. With extensive experience in the Israeli medical system, Chaim V’Chessed’s team provides English speakers with resources and support throughout any medical crisis.
As soon as I found out we had to go the emergency room, I called Chaim V’Chessed. I’ve been living here for twenty years and I have ten children, so it was not my first visit to the ER. Still, it made it so much easier that the Chaim V’Chessed representative told me exactly what I had to bring and what to do when I got there.
When we got to the hospital, Zevi Weingarten greeted us at the emergency room. Zevi is an insider at the hospital; his tips saved us a lot of time and effort. When you’re told, “Go to the nurse,” and there are six different rooms labeled “nurse,” you don’t want to wait on line for five wrong nurses before making it to the right one!
Having a Chaim V’Chessed representative with me was like being with family –the family we miss so much in Eretz Yisrael –to hold my hand, keep me posted on the wait time, check in with me, make sure things were moving and that we had everything we needed.
When things were wrapping up, a Chaim V’Chessed staff member called. “If you can finish up quickly, there is a hasa’ah (free shuttle) that can take you home in fifteen minutes. See if you can make it out by then.” I could not have known there was reason to hurry during those last few minutes. We caught the hasa’ah, thanks to Chaim V’Chessed.
Being in an Israeli emergency room could have been an overwhelmingly stressful situation, but we had Chaim V’Chessed to care for us at every step of the way.