Five Towns volunteers honored for aiding wounded IDF soldiers in Israel

Four volunteers from the Five Towns and one from Far Rockaway will be recognized for their work helping injured Israel Defense Forces soldiers in the Negev Desert in southern Israel.

Physical therapists Daniel Aryeh, of Woodmere, and Moshe Richmond, of Lawrence, occupational therapists Jesse Vogel, of Far Rockaway, and Sarah Yastrab, of, and physical therapist Robert Weinberg, of Woodmere, will be honored at an event hosted by Young Israel of Lawrence-Cedarhurst in collaboration with ADI Negev-Nahalat Eran on Aug. 14.

ADI Negev is a 40-acre, state-of-the-art rehabilitative care for people with disabilities in the Negev.

Major Or Maatuk, an IDF soldier who was critically wounded in the war with Hamas, will recount his life story. He will be introduced by Dr. Shilo Kramer, director of orthopedic rehabilitation at ADI Negev’s Kaylie Rehabilitation Medical Center.

“Whether you were born into disability (or) touched by disability at some point at life, this 40-acre village has all kinds of resources,” said Elie Klein, the facility’s developmental director.

Its offerings include art, music, physical and occupational therapy, a therapeutic horse farm, and a safari petting zoo for residents, patients and special-education students. There are 170 residents, and 190 special-education students with severe disabilities who are treated daily.

“We are taking care of everyone, and providing the help that they need,” Klein said, explaining that ADI Negev performs more than 50,000 outpatient treatments each year for those affected by everything from heart attacks and strokes to terror-related trauma.

“As soon as the war began, now 300 days ago, we were very, very short-staffed when it came to physical and occupational therapists,” Klein said. “We put out a call, and we have an amazing relationship with the Emergency Volunteers Project, that helped send volunteers to Israel in all different kinds of professions.”

The facility’s regular staff was evacuated because of the war with Hamas, and has not yet returned.

The Kaylie Center is the first and only rehabilitation hospital in Israel, and has 83 inpatient beds.

“We are caring for many of the civilian and IDF heroes of Oct. 7 and we’re understaffed, so we needed a lot of help,” Klein said, “and about a half-dozen PT and OT volunteers from the Five Towns made their way to Israel. It was a life- changing experience.”

Yastrab volunteered for two weeks in May, and was given a caseload the day she arrived. She worked with neurological and orthopedic patients.

“They were very appreciative of having volunteers coming mostly from America to come and fill some of the gaps,” Yastrab said.

“After Oct. 7, everybody wanted to do something,” she said, “and some people knew what to do, and others, it took a while to figure out. Some people raised money, sent equipment or paid visits. This is something I could do. I have a license to practice occupational therapy; I’ve been doing it for over 30 years. This was a need that they had, and it’s something I could do.”

She heard about the opportunity via a WhatsApp group of therapists, and contacted Kramer, who helped with the process of approving her credentials and providing her with a temporary license from the Israeli Ministry of Health.

“What was so unique about this experience was how powerful it was interacting with the patients in the rehab center, and hearing about their experiences firsthand in real time living in the south,” Yastrab said. “To hear about their experiences not through the lens of the media was extremely powerful, and was the most important part of the experience.”

She urged all of her friends who are therapists as well as Five Towns community members to come to next week to hear about  experiences.

Vogel, who also volunteered in May for two weeks, also heard about ADI Negev on WhatsApp. He brought not only his experience as an occupational therapist, but also his specialty: neuromuscular taping. Vogel uses a special tape that stimulates the muscles, nerves and lymphatic system to increase circulation, reduce pain and inflammation, and promote movement.

“It was absolutely amazing, because here in America, occupational therapy is my day job, (but) volunteering is a more important part of my life,” Vogel said. “It was very much the opposite in Israel, where having this skills got me there to go help people was really an extraordinary feeling.”

Vogel taught patients new techniques with the neuromuscular taping, and helped them relieve pain. He volunteered by day at ADI Negev, and at night he traveled to army bases to tape up IDF soldiers.

“It was fantastic being able to help them get back into the fight after an injury,” Vogel said.