Government pilots welfare program in coronavirus-hit Jerusalem neighborhood
Led by the ministries of labor and defense and city hall, project may serve as an example for similar initiatives across the country
Judah Ari Gross is The Times of Israel's religions and Diaspora affairs correspondent.
The government on Monday announced a new pilot program in a predominantly ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of the capital bringing together various welfare and medical services for residents of the area affected by the coronavirus.
According to the Defense Ministry, the purpose of the program is to both prevent the spread of the virus and to provide basic services to people who have the disease and their relatives while they are sick.
The program — dubbed “Security and Welfare” — was created by the Defense Ministry; the Labor, Social Affairs and Social Services Ministry; and the Jerusalem municipality, and will be tried out in the Ramot neighborhood of Jerusalem with 180 to 200 families that have at least one member who is sick with the disease.
“An emphasis will be put on those known to welfare services and elderly residents who do not have family,” the Defense Ministry said in a statement.
“The goal of the project is to give these families assistance and a framework of food and medical counseling, as well as ensuring quarantine directives are kept, transfers to [coronavirus] hotels, and specialized assistance,” the ministry said.
Labor, Social Affairs and Social Services Minister Itzik Shmuli praised the program, saying it could be used elsewhere in the country.
“The emphasis is on weak populations who are harmed twice, both from the virus and from the economic situation. Our goal is to care for them so that they want nothing. If the pilot program is a success, it will serve as a model for effective action in additional parts of the country,” Shmuli said.
This pilot program will be run by a number of “project managers” who will be trained by the IDF Home Front Command and the Jerusalem municipality.
The program, which has a budget of NIS 220,000 ($64,000), will run for two weeks and then be assessed. If it passes that initial assessment, it will then run for another two weeks, at which point the Defense Ministry will determine if it serves as a model for additional programs in other areas, the ministry said.
Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion said the pilot program emphasizes the residents of the predominantly ultra-Orthodox Ramot neighborhood, which has seen a large number of COVID-19 cases, and that it was thus more likely to result in them abiding by quarantine rules and going to coronavirus hotels to convalesce.
