These days we are raising resources for the benefit of the project - come and be partners in a tremendous impact for the benefit of premature babies and their families**
The association's vision
Achieving continuous improvement in the quality of care prematurely, so as to reduce the long-term consequences of prematurity on the lives of premature babies in the future.
The goals of the association To work for premature babies in Israel at every level which affects their lives and the lives of their family members:
- Raising awareness - Advocacy and making information available for the problems of miscarriages and the plight of premature babies in Israel, including the production of informational materials and preliminary relief for support and information for the parent of a premature baby during his hospitalization and towards his release
- Promotion of legislation related to the rights and well-being of premature infants
- Support and assistance for the welfare of premature babies and their families - Operating a website, a support group in the various media, a hotline active 24/7 to answer the questions and needs of parents and families, as well as assistance with the institutional authorities and treatment of individual problems
Project goals
- Raise awareness and make knowledge and information available to all parties who care for premature babies and their families
- To provide an optimal, professional and continuous response to parents, to the teams at the local preschools and to the teams in the community
- A significant improvement in the quality and level of care given to premature babies - a mission enshrined in the core of the vision of the Lehab association.
15000 premature babies are born in Israel every year, about 10% of all newborns
Background and needs
The social and/or psychological facts of prematurity throughout the country accompany parents who are in a physically, medically, emotionally, mentally and/or financially vulnerable situation, since they are dealing with parenting (sometimes for the first time) around crisis, trauma and illness situations. Not for nothing, premature birth means treating newborns with malformations, syndromes or developmental delays. In this crisis situation, the social workers are the first line of defense in providing care and emotional support.
The heavy loads in preemies do not allow all parents of prematures to be reached, and some will be released from preemies without having met a lawyer or psychologist even once.
In addition, unfortunately, today it is almost impossible to continue emotional support for parents after the release from premature birth or, in contrast, after death.
The parents are left torn, alone, confused and often helpless in moving home - not least in the case of loss.
The association's solution: the embrace of the Hebrew Bible – A support envelope that includes:
- Close accompaniment of the parents in the regional groups, ongoing support, answering questions, handling individual problems and assistance in managing the medical file
- Support and processing of the birth experience individually and/or in groups.
- Trainings, lectures and accompaniment of the professional teams in the hospitals (pregnancy at risk, maternity, maternity) and in the community (milk drop nurses, child development teams, pediatricians, etc.)
The target population of the project:
- Pregnancies at risk - pregnant women, who are afraid of giving birth early, turn to us for support and assistance.
- Parents of premature babies - mostly young parents in their first parenting or parenting that is even more challenging if there are adult children at home.
- Pagia teams - although they are intimately familiar with the world of childbirth, but under unusual loads and attrition, we would like to regularly mediate the families' difficulties and how important it is to preserve empathy and sensitivity
- Health insurance and milk drop teams - do not always know the unique needs of premature babies and their parents, and will benefit greatly from the availability of information and tools to help families
- Child development institutes - well aware of the needs of families and premature babies, but with unusual loads in general and can benefit quite a bit from the involvement of other professional parties in the picture
The association's support will improve the quality and level of care for premature babies and their families by:
- Understanding the unique needs of families starting from before birth, through infancy to school age and beyond
- Showing sensitivity and empathy for the unique situation and getting an overall picture of the premature/parent experience
- Reducing stressful reactions, reducing parental anxiety and improving the parent-child bond
- Raising awareness of the rights and all the follow-ups required for premature infants to prevent developmental delays and/or very early intervention when such occur
Today the project is carried out in a limited and voluntary manner.
We invite you to take part and be our partners in a significant change for every child and every family in Israel
for further details - romi@pagim.net
Want to support the project? Donate to the Hebrew Association
