Children’s Program at the ILAN Haifa
Rehabilitation and Sports Center
The Children’s Program at the ILAN Haifa Rehabilitation and Sports Center was dedicated to the memory of Schaina and Josephina Lurje in 2011. With each successive year, the number of disabled children enrolled in the program has increased, and today the number is more than 100. Most of these children were born with cerebral palsy; many require wheelchairs or walkers for mobility. The children come from diverse ethnic backgrounds; most are Jewish, secular and religious, but 25% are Arab, a population with a relatively high incidence of cerebral palsy.
As more and more deserving families look to enroll their children in the Haifa program, ILAN has sought to keep pace by expanding the Haifa Center’s schedule of sports and social activities, which are conducted by a professional staff certified in physiotherapy, hydrotherapy, and other occupations. The Center’s air-conditioned Children’s Activity Room provides story time, video games, music, table tennis, and gymnastics. The Center has an outdoor court for wheelchair tennis, a sport that enhances a child’s coordination; many of the young tennis players achieve such skill that they compete in national and international tournaments. The children receive individualized hydrotherapy treatments in a special 34°C swimming pool, and they take swimming lessons in the same Olympic-size pool where Israel’s star Paralympic athletes train; these athletes inspire the children, many of whom hope to join their ranks one day. Learning to swim is very important for these disabled children as it increases their self-esteem and teaches them independence, both in and out of the water.
In 2014, due to lack of funding, ILAN was forced to scale down the budget for the Children’s Program from $105,000 to $77,000. This reduction was achieved by cutting services, such as shuttle buses and other travel costs; curtailing swimming lessons, and restricting the purchase of new equipment. ILAN wants to preserve the Children’s Program without having to dip into its emergency funds, but to do so it needs donor support. For 2015, the S&J Lurje Memorial Foundation has once again made a generous contribution of $50,000, but ILAN considers $77,000 the minimum amount needed to enable the Children’s Program to meet the growing demands for its services.
Follow Us