The Beit Shulamit Day Rehabilitation Center in Kiryat Malachi was reopened in a moving ceremony that took place on September 26, 2016
Among those present were Eliyahu Zohar, mayor of Kiryat Malachi; former chief of staff Lt. Gen. (Res.) Gabi Ashkenazi, chairman of the Rashi Foundation; Mr. Geoff Turetsky of the Legacy Heritage Fund; Mr. Chaim Katzman, CEO of Gazit-Globe; Dina Ben Lavi, state supervisor of daytime rehabilitation centers at the Social Welfare Ministry; Dr. Hadar Yardeni, director of the Child Development and Rehabilitation Department at the Health Ministry; Riva Muskal, chairwoman of the Shalem Foundation; and Itzik Sabato, director of the National Insurance Fund at the National Insurance Institute

The club and the activities it offers are unique in that they provide special solutions, together with rehabilitative therapeutic intervention, for babies and toddlers with multi-disciplinary developmental delay. The day center is also designed to help families cope with treating such children by offering them a chance to live an ordinary family life

Ms. Tami Mordechai, Tahel’s mother and one of the speakers at the ceremony, said “I am grateful for the opportunity to stand before you in this beautiful new building, in which the boys and girls of Kiryat Malachi will find a solution for their problems. I am a mother of two: Tahel, a sweet ray of sunshine, two years and ten months old, was born normally and developed well until we started noticing a delay in reaching the expected milestones of children her age. She started crawling late, and was also delayed when it came to producing sounds and walking. A rehabilitation center was recommended where Tahel would receive all the treatments and care she needed to move forward “While it was no easy thing to realize that our daughter needed special day care, we were willing to do it all. Unfortunately, there was no such day-care for these toddlers anywhere in Kiryat Malachi. Anxious to enroll Tahel in a suitable program, we began looking in other communities, but this was not to be. None of them could accommodate Tahel because she was from out of town. Tahel stayed home for almost two years while we kept up our search until a rehabilitation center was opened in a temporary building

“This center provides a solution for children who until now have had to travel out of town or stay at home with no help. Tahel, who has been attending the center for the past year, has made significant progress. The dedicated team of caregivers, teachers, and para-medical professionals took us into their hearts and capable hands, and good results soon followed

“A city that cares for its residents’ needs does honor to us all. I hope that we will fill this place with the happy voices of children while we help each and every one of them move forward.”