"I don't go there and take care of myself in private, just so I don't experience this humiliation and abuse"
Itay Elimelech, chairman of the Haifa and the North district of the IDF Disabled People's Organization, was one of the initiators of the "Nefesh One" reform that was introduced yesterday by the Ministry of Defense for the treatment of the disabled in the IDF. Elimelech told Lahi Fa - the news corporation about the humiliation and abuse he experienced over the years at the Haifa Rehabilitation Bureau.
Yesterday (Thursday 22/4/21) the Ministry of Defense presented the reform for the treatment of the disabled in the IDF - "one soul" - which took shape after the difficult case of Itzik Saidian, who set himself on fire in front of the rehabilitation department in Petah Tikva.
The press conference to present the reform was attended by Defense Minister Benny Gantz, senior officials of the Ministry of Defense and Iti Elimelech, chairman of the Haifa and the North District of the IDF Disabled People's Organization, who shares in all the efforts made to promote the reform.
In the last two years, since Elimelech has been serving as the chairman of the organization in the Haifa district, he, together with his partners, has been fighting for his disabled friends, and during this time, he has met with the CEOs of the Ministry of Defense, the Ministers of Defense and the Prime Minister, with the top of the Ministry of Defense and anyone else who can be raised on the mind
On Sunday (18/4/21), IDF disabled people began to demonstrate in mass demonstrations in Tel Aviv, while at the same time, dozens of disabled people also demonstrated at the Maxim intersection in Haifa, together with a lawyer dealing with the exploitation of the rights of IDF disabled people, Gil Goldreich.
Itai Elimelech, chairman of the Haifa and the North district of the IDF Disabled People's Organization, on the reform:
This is a social revolution. A country that does not know how to take care of its wounded who have returned from the battlefield, has no right to exist. A country should be the one that embraces and cares for its wounded, whether they are post-traumatic, battle trauma, whether they have been physically or mentally injured. This is our strength as a society and as a country. This is our national resilience. Today we really made history.
The character of Elimelech (40) inspires and is a living example of motivation. He grew up in Neve Shaanan, graduated from Municipal School C and is the father of four children. In 2000, Elimelech was wounded by an IED at the Rihan outpost in southern Lebanon, and to this day shrapnel remains in his body. He met his wife when he was already wounded in Golani, she was a casualty officer in Golani, and then he discovered that she was also from Haifa. In 2011, as a cooking enthusiast, Elimelech participated in the "Master Chef" program " and came in tenth place. For 18 years he represented Beit HaLochem Haifa with honor, when he played in the wheelchair basketball team and participated in the European and World Championships, in the Israeli team.
How do you describe your experience with the Ministry of Defense, after you were injured?
"On a personal level, the treatment I received was a scandal. I was seriously injured by a shell that exploded a meter and a half away from me. No organ in my body remained intact, the shrapnel from the shell that remained in my knee was 4 cm in size and caused me a serious infection. The highlight of the day was when the doctor explained to me that the shrapnel is an unrecognized disability, therefore I cannot receive treatment. I tried to explain to her that when a shell exploded on me and I was blown to pieces, I was not asked where and if I wanted to receive a fragment.
I also have a splinter in my neck and my left hand doesn't have much left, nor both of my legs. I avoid going there as much as I can, and I also don't have the time and mental strength to deal with these treatments.
I am working on maintaining the fracture and from time to time help and physiotherapy treatments are needed. I asked for physical therapy and got an amazing answer: if I haven't asked for it in two years, then I probably don't need it. That is, after a year and a half had passed, they simply rounded up the validity of my eligibility to two years. What kind of answer is this? In the end, the district doctor approved me for one treatment a week, for a month. I left the referral on the table and went to take care of myself in private, just so I wouldn't experience this humiliation and humiliation. This is the situation of the disabled in the IDF to this day."
Elimelech continues: "The Haifa Rehabilitation Bureau in the Disabled Rehabilitation Division is the horrifying, sickest, and worst bureau in the entire Ministry of Defense, within a bad and very sick system. Understaffing standards in it, causes a tremendous shortage and turnover of personnel. There are a few people who keep this whole system on Their shoulders, and they too are on the verge of collapse.
All the rest, either they don't feel like working at all, or they do themselves a favor and come to work and do nothing.
The level of frustration of the disabled treated at the Haifa office is the highest of all the rehabilitation departments. In every department, the situation is not a hit, and this reform is going to double the manpower, which is a necessary move.
I will not rest nor will I be silent until this happens and finally the disabled in Haifa and the north will get a normal and respectful service. After yesterday's reform, I hope we are on the right track."
I'm relatively new and I understand what you're talking about, it's simply human material that hasn't received the token that it needs a change of attitude and it's time to support
in the victims and not to abuse them.
I hope that your work will lead to achievements.
I am the brother of a disabled Tshal and this is a horrible and horrifying office
They don't answer the phones at all
Has the article affected anything or anyone? How many have committed suicide since then?
The most horrific district is the Tiberias district. A bad manager, so is his deputy and a delusional doctor.
Came to explode with rage and anger at these types who ignore, knowingly, how much he is in excruciating pain.
She says this only because she did not meet the bureau in Eilat. In Eilat, not only do they not function, they intentionally harm the disabled, require them to come physically to hand over things that can be sent by email, refuse to return their money, do not approve treatments that the national doctor of the Ministry of Defense has determined should be given, and much more.
I'm not saying Haifa isn't bad. I'm just saying that as bad as they are there are more
Camp David, the branch of the Ministry of Defense, the body that is supposed to help us brings our cotton to the decisions at the end of our lives because maybe that way it is better for them to have less taxes and less money, the main thing is that we guarded the borders of the country, in the end we are in the trash, machines are what they see us as not human beings, probably it is really better for us to put an end to it Our lives are filled with mental suffering that is more painful than an open wound, believe me
Hello everyone, I also suffer from post-trauma, I was diagnosed and I was in Natal's treatments to this day I have flashbacks because once I ran to complain about this I didn't come forward for 15 maybe 17 years I suffer quietly taking pills quietly because I was humiliated at a branch called David I carry a lot and don't know how to walk every day at night I get up before everyone at home and return at 6 in the morning for another hour so as not to explode outside or at home I wish someone would help me get through everything
I denounce the disgraceful treatment of the disabled in the medical committees, but I understand where it comes from.
The motto in the medical committees in both the National Insurance and the Rehabilitation Division is not to believe the applicant.
The doctors claim that from their experience they know that a significant percentage of the applicants are impersonators.
Unfortunately, the real disabled suffer because of vile people who pretend to be victims.
I know a renovation contractor who works in the dark and makes a living above and beyond and in the limit receives 8000 NIS a month as compensation for his "disability" as well as a "nanny" who works as a helper and cooks when he and his wife are at work. He is also entitled to a tax-free car....
He is proud that he knew how to go to a senior doctor whose opinion is considered in the rehabilitation department and to use a peppered attorney who knew how to pull strings and with their help regularly milks the country.
I am sure he is not an only child and that there are quite a few who make plays and make others suffer.
My late mother said that when they came to recruit her brother to the Red Army, my grandmother pinched him tightly and he screamed hysterically while twisting and turning. His behavior convinced the recruiters that he was crazy and he was released from conscription. In World War II, he enlisted on his own initiative and fell in the battle for the liberation of Berlin.
There they misled the Gentiles and here the medical committees. Inflate a minor injury to humanity and the celebration begins.
Still, I hope for compassion and respect for the disabled wherever they are.
I also experienced a psychiatric committee that mocked me and treated me with such violent hostility and asked me why I was such a coward and weak while I took part in the hardest battles of the Yom Kippur War from the moment it broke out until the day before it ended when I was wounded.
How can there be such people at all?
And what are they doing in the committees and why do they mock the fighters who saw their friends burn and crash while hiding under the bed during war?
No wonder people burn themselves out of rage and despair.
Aalek professionals,
Contempt for both humanity and the profession
And Haifa charged me 20 percent for no reason and without checking
I suggest to the IDF disabled people to move to Tel Aviv because there is no situation in Haifa
Is Itay Almelech ready to come with me to the committees?
No Comment? What happened?
All the best with me
It's time to name the boy, hope you can move something,
The whole conduct in the rehabilitation department is a shame
There is no one to talk to, the gates are closed, all communication is through bars and with a security guard.
The description is too subtle.
What is happening at the Haifa Rehabilitation Bureau is abuse for its own sake
Repeated outrages and humiliations
Worse than the war injury itself is the disdain and inhumanity I encounter when I have to resort to begging and requesting treatment or anything else related to rehabilitation.
big shame
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Hadas
12 hours ago
From most committees and from most researchers and all kinds of diggers who work with the committees and make it difficult for the disabled, this is the real problem
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6
Tens of thousands in the country unjustifiably use their own or their relatives' disability cards to ease their parking woes and thereby deny this option to disabled people with real restrictions. It is essential to put order in the country in this lawlessness that is visible to all. Also on the subject of the disabled in the IDF - no populism please, we must give what is due to those who are truly entitled and cheer on the many many who are trying to get entitlements that are not theirs and make a living from this exploitation.
If I could I would send all these women to prison. In the middle of a battle, a doppelganger psychiatrist sits... and laughs in my face. This animal is not a doctor. I felt and still feel consumed by anger and the bunch of scum sitting there.
As a very old disabled person, 2 hands are enough to count how many times I have been to the Haifa office of the Rehabilitation Division. Like a bunch of clerks who just don't do anything which is really depressing because when you send a fax, just a fax because email and phone are not at the level of the disabled, they don't answer and don't respond. Two weeks ago I received in the mail a referral that I requested in December, for a test that month. They give me medicine without asking (what, it's their money?) and when I do ask, you start waiting... 1000 stories about disrespect and continuous stupidity.
Soul, your job is not to complain, but only to correct, change and improve.
The response really humbles the criticism of the Haifa office. The worst situation is manifested in the injection of unnecessary drugs, in the promotion of narcotics to shut up mouths, in the enrichment of examining the private medical condition of a disabled person and giving dangerous mixing of drugs with drugs that the disabled person regularly receives from the health fund, illegal instructions from medical boards by a doctor responsible for committees and fabrication. From regulations that do not exist, carrying cases between care providers who cannot treat the disabled at the same time but in a column, the impossibility of effective communication, long mailing responses, lack of updating requests on the rehabilitation website, bad information on the website of the rehabilitation department, few pharmacies that honor prescriptions, and more and more fictional humiliations Medical committees such as a doctor who explicitly says that he does not have time to read a thick file and it is enough for the disabled person to talk about the past time and his troubles. If the examination committee wants to accept affidavits under oath, many committee doctors will be removed from the committees or even denied their license.
All the responses written by the readers can be directed against the "National Insurance" word for word, also appropriate for this "institution", which is closed, impervious, and condescending to the victims of work, the disabled, and those who need help from it. We should go out and demonstrate in the same way as the disabled people of the Ministry of Defense demonstrated. Stables need to be cleaned there too.
Woe to us if this is the reality
We have become morally, emotionally, socially and nationally bankrupt
general bewilderment
A great solution. We have people who don't want to do their job. We will bring in more people who won't do the job
Itay is right because I was there once with a friend in the office in Haifa and I have a trauma. The current situation cannot continue and the harm to our heroes must not continue.
Well, it's not just in Haifa and it was a thousand times worse if not more in the attitude of even the doctors after the Yom Kippur War, they just knocked the wounded and threw them down all the stairs as if they were exploiters. And this at a time when the disabled had no legal representation. And no internet and it was not known what and how to do what.
Instead of having a wing of free meals and pensions from the state, budget salaries that go to the benefit of this delusional wing, simply blind it and transfer the money to the disabled, believe me, there will be a surplus of the delusional state's budget
Kudos to the initiative and momentum that Iathi is at the center of. But there is still a long way to advance the reform. The move that begins to drive real reform is a tender bud that needs to be fed and nurtured and the forces that are responsible for the existing situation must be restrained. There will be those who will try to defend the idleness and indifference they are used to. It will be inevitable to appoint new managers and professional employees who will undergo retraining. In fact, it will be necessary to remove the managers who failed in any legal way possible.
The time has come for them to switch to working with direct email to the person in charge of the required position and for the age of faxes to disappear and not every time you need to send something to the Ministry of Defense you have to run to the post office for those who don't have a fax machine at home
With me you are right in every word you said.
The clerks give you half an answer, keep calling without any answer.
I have posted a request for minal employment in order to stay alive with a desire for tomorrow for a month and a half despite all the vacancies that are advertised in the media to this day with no response
After one attempt I already understood that salvation would not come from there. Maybe you should individualize the treatment. The rehabilitation department is the system's own goal.
Enough of looking for the disabled with medical paperwork. Treat us in accordance with specialist doctors. Enough of the humiliation and intimidation of rehabilitation
I did not know that others also suffered from unprofessional and defamatory treatment from the reconstruction wing of the Haifa Ministry of Defense and when I dared to complain. As a professional psychologist. In the written response I received I couldn't believe I read the word "insolent". It turns out that there is a truth and even after years the rot has been exposed.
For the most anxious: you should be ashamed, not of your stupid reaction, but of your poor level. If you're already talking about organ donation, etc., these associations, Ezer Mezion/Yad Sarah/Zikhron Menachem and more, are ultra-orthodox associations and when you need them you will learn about it. In the meantime, go study a little and maybe it will help you in life.
bitter taste
Lucky to have you, the previous ones only knew how to take care of benefits for themselves and ity definitely takes care of the disabled. Be strong with me... rise and succeed.
Apart from that, as a fighter, I have nothing and a half against the physically and mentally disabled, at the same time Itzik Saidian as representing me from the center of interest in his son the fighter, but everyone takes it to the visible and not transparent disabilities. In short, they miss the target by a meter again. And therefore there will be no salvation for the battle-stricken.
The State of Israel limits the existence of people who in principle do not want to contribute to the state (serving in the army, going to work, donating organs after death and more).
That country abdicates its responsibility to the people thanks to whom the country exists.
pure shame.
All the bureaus are horrible.
Shafu is great for me, the rehabilitation department in Haifa is the most horrifying and traumatic place I have ever experienced in my life
Because of the tradition of the Histadrut, there are no layoffs for unfit people in the country
This is exactly my experience as well, doing everything in order not to get to the bureau in Haifa which is bad and far from all the others
I was once at the OAS and I realized that in order to survive mentally it is better not to repeat this mistake ever
I accompanied the bereaved mother of a soldier who came from Germany to serve in the Israel Defense Forces and was killed in one of the wars. His Jewish mother came to live in Israel. As a bereaved nurse, I saw the level of arrogance and arrogance of the OT. When we returned home, I called her (God forbid directly...it went through a very impersonal procedure, which is a house of a thousand unhappy people who do not understand what has befallen them. I spoke to her with the utmost caution Because I accompanied the bereaved mother, who was probably used to the level of a song. At the end of the conversation, you are not my boss. I will not forget it in my life, and I am not interested in anything You go there. Really humiliating. Everyone in their office like they used to be in Tel Aviv.
Obviously they don't feel like working.
These are civil servants who eat free food
which are a sub-arm of the Ministry of Defense
which is a parasitic body in itself...
All the best to Iti Elimelech, chairman of the Haifa and the North district of the IDF Disabled People's Organization. Good luck to you.
I shake your hands. Your struggle is 100 percent right
. Shabbat Shalom. You gave a lot for the people of Israel. It is the duty of the Israeli government to assist you in everything.
It's good that there are those who care and take care of the disabled.
From personal experience with a disabled IDF relative, every word of mine is written in stone