Organizations that perform well during normal times have proven effective during the coronavirus pandemic. Home care has proven to be the most effective, so that people do not overload hospitals and the entire medical system. Chairman of the Board of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress Aaron Frenkel spoke about the unique experience of combating coronavirus at the Kyiv Jewish Forum 2020.
“We have several organizations that worked day in and day out also before COVID-19. They turned out to be effective. What works well on normal days, in my opinion, also works very well in emergencies. Instead of creating new platforms, new organizations, we used the existing ones, such as Yad Sarah in Israel and the existing hospitals,” explained Frenkel.
Hospitals have been additionally equipped, and besides, thousands of people have been provided with oxygen units at home, which helped significantly reduce the pressure on the hospitals.
“We did this for thousands of people who suffered at home and could not go to a hospital due to the risk of additional infection. They felt bad, were depressed, some began to have mental problems, some began to feel worse because of fear,” said the EAJC Chairman.
“We provided them with nurses, doctors, equipment. We visited, listened to them, so the pressure on hospitals was never too high. When everyone was running in a panic, we had no problems supplying all kinds of equipment. We did a good job,” Frenkel summed up.
All this would have been impossible without small and large charitable donations.
“Both are important to us. And I tell them: Every dollar you give – I will control it and make it double. This is what we do – we collect about $5 million a year,” Frenkel said.
According to him, the task is not just to provide assistance, but to do it there, where there is no direct government assistance. In addition, the directions of assistance also change depending on the current situation. “This model works best,” he stressed.
As reported, Kyiv Jewish Forum - 2020 was held online on September 8-9. The forum was organized by the Jewish Confederation of Ukraine in partnership with the Jerusalem Post. On the first day of the forum, the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the participants with a welcoming speech. According to the JCU President Boris Lozhkin, the annual Kyiv Jewish Forum has become a global platform for discussing the most relevant issues of the Jewish community and the whole world.