Ruach Hadash: Volunteer clinic in Haifa serves asylum-seeking refugees

With the strict laws limiting human rights for asylum-seeking refugees, this story illustrates how volunteers can use their professional skills to provide essential services for these refugees.

Artie Jacobowitz made aliyah with his wife, Karen, in January this year. They have two sons and four grandchildren living in the US.

Artie lost no time as a retired biomedical equipment engineer in searching for volunteer work. He contacted the Yahel Social Change Fellowship, which matches volunteers and their skills with the needs of the local communities.

And indeed, there was a great need for Artie`s professional skills at Ruach Hadashah, a medical clinic in Haifa’s Hadar neighborhood, serving the local community of refugees. Mostly from Eritrea, Sudan, and Ukraine, they are living in limbo without any government assistance or social benefits. Without an Israeli ID, they cannot register with a health fund or apply for credit cards or bus pass, so these families live without any medical or social care.

Artie was recruited to work one day a week at the clinic, maintaining and repairing – and sometimes improvising – their equipment, as well as filling in as office manager. “This has been good for my Hebrew,” he said.

What goes on at Ruach Hadashah?

Visiting the Ruach Hadashah clinic at the invitation of its director, Dr. Alon Erez, it was obvious to me that this was a much-needed facility. It is situated in a suite of rooms, brightly painted and decorated with bookshelves, toys and posters. Patients were checking in for their appointments, greeted with a welcoming smile.

Dr. Erez’s day job is as director of the Lin Clinic, Haifa’s main specialty center of the Clalit health fund. Before that, he was a cardiothoracic surgeon, having worked at Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba, Rambam Health Center in Haifa, and a hospital in New Zealand. He has master’s degrees in health systems management, and gerontology.

The clinic is open three afternoons a week, but Erez spends many more hours there making sure that things are running smoothly.

The project is the brainchild of the Technion Faculty of Medicine as a means of teaching medical students a more holistic approach to treating patients. “These students are in their first pre-clinical year,” says Erez. “The time they spend at the clinic gives them credit toward their year’s work.”

Supervised by the various medical professionals who work voluntarily at the clinic, they learn how to communicate even though they may not have a common language, how to listen, and interpret body and facial language to help with diagnosis.

“Working in such an environment, the students learn that respect and empathy in a relaxed atmosphere will help them to understand the problems of the patients,” he says.

Speaking to two young students at the reception desk, they expressed their enthusiasm about the program. Apart from working with the professionals, they organize health fairs to promote education for health.

Three months previously, the students had voluntarily renovated and painted the premises so that patients walk into an aesthetic environment .

“The clinic was founded four and a half years ago,” says Erez. “We have on average 1,500 visits a year, with a staff of 40 professionals giving their time voluntarily once or twice a month, and more than 100 students throughout the year.”

Basic medications are stocked and given according to the need, and for more rare conditions, prescriptions are given, although not all patients can afford to buy them. “Sometimes we provide food or diapers.” Erez says they work closely with Aleph, another welfare organization working with refugees.

Pregnancy and postpartum care is provided at the clinic, but the women give birth in the hospitals. In general, hospitals are not willing to treat patients who are not medically insured, but in extreme emergencies they will do so.

Therefore, the clinic is a multi-disciplinary center covering family medicine, cardiology, gynecology, opthalmics, ENT, pediatrics, and orthopedics, as well as radiology and physiotherapy. There is a dietitian, a psychologist, and a psychiatrist when needed.

“These are refugees with no social benefits or insurance. In addition, they are coping in a strange country in an unfamiliar language. Many mental health issues emerge from their unstable situation,” adds Erez.

Recognizing a familiar face, I greeted ophthalmic specialist Dr. Micky Hyams, who works at Carmel Hospital and volunteers at the clinic. He showed me a beautifully preserved still-functioning piece of equipment that had belonged to his late father, also an ophthalmic specialist.

Internal medicine consultant Dr. Dima Shlom was preparing to receive patients in her office. She has been volunteering at the clinic for two years, was recommended by a friend, and finds the work very worthwhile. She speaks Arabic, English, and Hebrew and works in the Internal Medicine Department at Rambam Medical Center.

When the clinic was founded, the Technion Faculty of Computer Science worked with the Faculty of Medicine to provide the Internet and computer programs. At present, their tutors and students are working to build an infrastructure to streamline the administration of the clinic.

The clinic started working before the COVID pandemic, and Erez says it was not closed one single day. Surprisingly, there was not a serious outbreak of COVID among this population. “They live simply, do not ride buses, or go to places of entertainment. They are living from day to day, trying to sustain their families and are quite isolated. So they were not so exposed to crowds or closed spaces,” he explains.

Erez says that the Technion Faculty of Medicine was the first in the country to initiate such a project which is of benefit to the uninsured refugees and for the enrichment of the student body. 

This project is another example of Israeli resilience, by the professionals and volunteers and by the community who are coping with intolerable conditions but aiming to keep their families healthy.■

Post-script: Offers of voluntary assistance can be made directly to Dr. Alon Erez, 050-626-1216.