Under Iran’s ‘blitz’, Israel’s retirement homes try to keep calm and carry on
With hundreds of residents who have faced multiple wars, assisted-living facilities’ managers say the best approach to nighttime sirens is to just let their elders keep sleeping
Zev Stub is the Times of Israel's Diaspora Affairs correspondent.
When you run a home for 200 residents with dementia and mobility issues, the most important thing during a war is to maintain a sense of calm, according to the head of a Jerusalem-based assisted-living facility.
“My main goal is to keep our daily schedule unchanged,” Avituv Zelkin, CEO of the Neve Horim home in the capital’s San Simon neighborhood, told The Times of Israel during a recent visit. “I don’t want our residents to feel any stress during this time.”
That is an ambitious goal at a time when most Israelis have had their daily lives upended by multiple sirens a day, indicating incoming missile barrages from Iran, following Israel’s preemptive strike against Iran’s nuclear program on June 13. To make it work at a nursing home with 200 elderly residents, most in wheelchairs and adult diapers, requires taking a light touch.
“When there is an alarm at night, we don’t wake the residents up,” Zelkin explained. “The safety protocol is to ensure that residents are in the safest space there is. Imagine moving all these people in wheelchairs to the shelter downstairs when we are not allowed to use the elevators during a siren. So we let them continue sleeping.”
During daytime sirens, wheelchair-bound residents are moved towards the center of the building, away from windows. Employees and residents who can walk independently can go down to the shelter during a siren, Zelkin explained.
All windows in the building have been treated with materials that would prevent the glass from shattering inward in case of an explosion, Zelkin noted. The home has taken extensive steps to ensure that it is prepared for all situations, he added.
“At 4:30 a.m. on Friday, when the war started, we held a staff meeting, and we opened all the shelters, set up emergency lighting and water stores,” Zelkin said. “Staff members have been trained so they know what to do in all situations, and the home has purchased extra food, medicines, and other supplies to last for up to two weeks in case supply chains are disrupted,” he said.
Neve Horim was established in 1870 and claims to be the oldest nursing home in the Middle East. Many of Neve Horim’s Arab workers do not have access to proper shelters in their homes, so they sleep there, and are on hand for emergencies, Zelkin added.
“We have given our independent residents opportunities to speak with social workers about their fears. I don’t sense any panic within the building,” Zelkin said. “For the people with dementia, you can never know, but we aren’t pushing them too much.”
Meanwhile, in a retirement home nearby, designed for those who are more independent, the approach has been generally hands-off.
“When there is a siren, we come around and knock on everyone’s doors,” said Yehudit Amrami, manager of the L.A. Mayer Residence in Jerusalem’s Talbieh neighborhood. “If they want to come down, they come down, and if not, it’s their decision. We have a shelter in the basement and another protected room on another floor. Those who can’t make it in time are instructed to stay in the stairwell.”
On average, just about half of the building’s 42 residents come out during a siren, a number that has increased over the course of the military operation, as awareness grows about the destruction caused by Iran’s ballistic missiles.
Thousands of Israelis have been wounded and 24 have been killed by Iranian missiles, even as Israel’s air defense systems intercept some 95 percent of them.
Amrami, who was a 10-year-old girl in Germany when World War II ended, said she is surprised by how destructive Iran’s missiles are.
“A single missile now can cause as much damage as hours of bombing during the war,” she said. “I have an image that remains in my head from Munich of a person who decided to stay in bed during the bombing instead of coming down to the shelter. The outside wall collapsed, but you could see that he was okay in his bed. Another meter and he would have been killed.”
Maintaining routine
About 12% of Israel’s population, or 1.2 million citizens, are aged 65 and over, according to government data. Experts have estimated that about 3% of these, or about 36,000, live in senior housing facilities.
At the Hamoshava residence for retirees in Jerusalem’s German Colony, Allen Kessel, an immigrant from New Jersey, said he and his wife have been able to maintain their regular routines despite the war.
“We do things a bit more locally now, so we can be close to home in case of a siren, but we haven’t let it stop us,” Kessel said. “A lot of the fun stuff, like concerts and lectures, aren’t happening anymore, but my wife continues to volunteer at the hospital and deliver Shabbat meals to families. We have adapted to the situation. We follow orders and continue our normal lives as much as possible.”
Hamoshava has sheltered rooms on every floor, each catering to a small number of apartments. Kessel opened the door to his shelter to reveal a large white room with plastic chairs lined along the walls.
“It’s not so bad here,” he said.
Kessel’s neighbor, Miriam Greenwald, has not been doing as well.
“I’m too old to be scared,” she said, recalling that she has experienced all of Israel’s wars since she immigrated to Israel in 1968. “Now, there is more of a feeling of balagan [chaos], of wondering when this is all going to end.”
While her children and neighbors help out a lot, the nighttime sirens have been really difficult for her, Greenwald said.
“I’m very sleep deprived, and for an old lady like me, that’s the worst thing,” she said. “Otherwise, it’s been very difficult since my husband passed away, so this has been a different cup of tea than other wars I’ve been through. ”
Kessel believes that age and life experience help provide perspective for managing during uncertainty.
“We are seasoned enough to know that there are a lot of things that we can’t control, but we can control how we react,” he said.
Kessel advises young people to make sure to get out of the house, do relaxation exercises, and engage in physical activity to maintain a sense of normalcy. Most important is to avoid spending too much time watching the news or doomscrolling online, he said.
Greenwald’s advice to the next generation is simpler.
“Just be patient,” she said. “Just be patient.”
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