11/15/23
From Daniel Kahn, NATAN Chair:
For six weeks, Israeli citizens have been held hostage by Hamas, and the grim task of identifying desecrated bodies continues to elude us. Six weeks of 200,000 displaced civilians crammed into single hotel rooms, tens of thousands of families disrupted. For six weeks, our siblings, cousins, spouses and children have been on the front lines. The collective trauma and stress seem only to intensify.
Despite these escalating challenges, NATAN remains steadfast in providing crucial support. Over this period, 175 volunteers operated our four dental and medical clinics at the Dead Sea and in Eilat, serving a growing number of patients. Next week, we will launch telemedicine consultations with medical specialists, to provide an even greater standard of care. The Ofakim Resilience Center is making swift progress, and efforts to bolster psychological support are underway. Recognizing evacuees’ unique needs, NATAN offers trauma care services in Ukrainian and Russian, for those who fled the war in Ukraine, and new immigrants.
NATAN is also training and mentoring counselors for camps supporting evacuated teenagers who face profound psychosocial challenges, in collaboration with Summer Camps IL.
For six weeks, NATAN has been in the thick of it, bringing help and hope to thousands of displaced Israelis. If we can inject even a drop of hope into this ocean of uncertainty, we will have fulfilled our duty. Thank you for your generous support of NATAN’s work.
NATAN Worldwide Disaster Relief’s vital expertise in medical, trauma and psychosocial support provides essential help to Israel’s displaced citizens.
Please donate generously today, and share this message widely across your networks.
For six weeks, NATAN has been in the thick of it, bringing help and hope to thousands of displaced Israelis. If we can inject even a drop of hope into this ocean of uncertainty, we will have fulfilled our duty. Thank you for your generous support of NATAN’s work.
Eilat, a town ordinarily populated by fewer than 52,000 residents, has more than doubled in size to accommodate displaced Israelis in area hotels and guest houses.
In response, and in collaboration with Clalit and Maccabi Health Services, NATAN created a Medical and Dental Clinic in an Eilat hotel. Have a “walk-through” with this video.
Visit our website to learn more about NATAN’s work in support of October 7 survivors.
NATAN continues to support the people of Ofakim, which suffered heavily during the Oct. 7th massacre and invasion by Hamas.
The Program for Rehabilitation and Recovery from Trauma in Ofakim was established by NATAN Worldwide Disaster Relief led by Dr. Eitan Shahar, head of NATAN’s PsychoSocial Relief Operations. Learn more about NATAN’s work in Ofakim here.
As a first step, NATAN volunteers invite all Ofakim residents to join the project of building collective resilience. often walking door to door to invite residents to participate. Creative activities connect the generations — yet many residents remain indoors, isolated and apart.
As neighborhood teams visit, they encourage residents to simply step outdoors and breathe fresh air: connect again with the world, whether from the balcony or the sidewalk. In striving for familiar routines — returning to a life “as normal as possible” — NATAN aims to counter the overwhelming fear and anxiety many residents continue to experience.
“Picking up the pieces” in a protected space at a school in Ofakim. Parents and children together create a mosaic illustrating Israeli unity, as a gift to families who suffered losses in the war.
The neighborhood emergency team and social workers from the city, together with NATAN team members, calling out to the people in the Herzog neighborhood in Ofakim to come join the activity.
Dr Ofra Gal (L), who served in NATAN’s dental clinic at the Dead Sea, writes: “Thank you for the privilege to take part in this sacred work.”
For more from NATAN volunteers, including a podcast featuring long-time volunteer physician Dr Michael Alkan interviewed by his son Yoni, visit NATAN’s website.