Bring Health Care to 4000 Needy People in Israel

Jessica Starts Over
Jessica (not her real name) is a single mother of two young children. After a tumultuous divorce and the death of her mother three years ago, Jessica was left with numerous debts; her ex-husband had taken out loans for apartment renovations (the renovations never took place), and Jessica had taken out loans from non-bank facilities even though her financial situation was already catastrophic. The total sum of all of these loans was NIS 126,000, and Jessica paid back the debts in monthly installments of NIS 4,300, though she only brings in NIS 6,500 a month.

Jessica turned to YEDID's Mobile Center when it was in Upper Nazareth, hoping that the center could help her ease the terrible economic situation she found herself in. Center Director Irena Loria immediately got to work. She knew that Jessica's NIS 126,000 loan had to be unified into one big loan, in order for her to reduce her pay back installments. Undeterred by Jessica's precarious finances, Irena turned to Jessica's employers, and asked them to give Jessica a loan that would enable her to close all of her debts. Irena prepared a detailed report of Jessica's finances, and stressed that such a loan would really save Jessica and her family. After some deliberation, Jessica's employers agreed to issue her the loan for a period of five years. Jessica was able to close most of her debts, and now pays her loan back at NIS 2,500 instead of NIS 4,300.

Finally, Jessica can breathe again, and can get back to working, parenting, and living with dignity.

Mobile Center Goals
The goal of YEDID's Mobile Citizen Rights and Health Center is to empower and strengthen residents like Jessica living in Israel's socioeconomic and geographic peripheries in the areas of health and social rights. The Center's objectives are to help clients navigate the national health system; to provide preventative medical services; and to supply information about legal rights and social benefits in the area of health care and other areas (such as housing and National Insurance, to name just two).

Mobile Center in Numbers
From the beginning of February 2015 through the end of April 2015, the Mobile Center provided 133 clients with rights counseling. The most prevalent subjects for which people turned to the center for non-health related issues during this period were matters related to debt and repossessions (28%), issues concerning public housing and mortgages (25%), and problems in accessing benefits and rights from the National Insurance Institute (Social Security) (23%). Clients served included immigrants and veteran Israelis, Holocaust survivors, Arabs and Jews. 68% of those who turned to us during this reporting period were women.

Plans for the Future
The Mobile Center's plans for the coming months are to continue running Health Days, to recruit more volunteers with specific skills such as fluency in Arabic and Russian, and professional experience in relevant fields. With a new volunteer having recently joined the center, we'll be able to increase the amount of clients we are able to serve.

It's all thanks to YOU
On behalf of YEDID's staff, volunteers, and clients, I thank our supporters for their partnership. The immediate and essential assistance that the center provides to individuals in peripheral towns across the country could never happen without your help. Thank you so much!