Nurse describes volunteering for special rehabilitation village in Israel

By Andy Furman
NKyTribune reporter

Dawn Rothchild is a special person – and she told the Covington Rotary Club why, at their weekly lunch meeting this week.

“When I was seven,” the Advanced Practice Nurse at Children’s Hospital said, “my brother passed away from brain cancer. This happened in the 1960s, and there were no resources for him, my other brothers or myself. There was no hospice.

“We were very protective of him and each other. We had to learn how to grieve. The experience made me a strong advocate for people in similar situations, especially my patients.”

Her patients at Children’s are children and adolescents with craniofacial conditions; abnormal head shapes (plagiocephaly); reconstruction after cancer, and chronic, traumatic, surgical or complex wounds.

“I use a comprehensive approach to care that involves considering each patient’s social, emotional and physical well-being to optimize their outcome,” said Rothchild, who has a master’s degree in genetic nursing. “I also have a master’s in perinatal health, and I care for each child as though they were my own.”

Dawn Rothchild also has a heart of gold.

“I look at what people’s abilities are,” she told the Northern Kentucky Tribune , “Not their disabilities.”

So, when she make her first trek to Israel, she rolled-up her sleeves and got totally involved in what she called, “The Jewel of the Negev.”

The 40-acre ADI Negev-Nahalat Farm Rehabilitation Village – named to honor the memory of Eran Almog, the late son and guiding light of founders Didi and Major General (Res.) Doron Almog.

“Doron Almog led the creation of the one-of-a kind rehabilitation village in Israel’s south, a community where people from diverse backgrounds and all levels of ability can live, and grown together,” Rothchild said. “Quite simply, it’s an oasis of healing.”

In addition to caring for and empowering more than 300 residents and special education students with severe disabilities, the expansive and progressive village pioneers cutting-edge therapeutic and recovery services for anyone touched by disability, cultivates empathy and acceptance through education, and provides individuals with disabilities with a framework for personal advancements, social integration and gainful employment, Rothchild explained.

Day after day, the village’s innovative kindergarten integrates children born with disabilities and their non-disabled peers to promote empathy and acceptance, she said. Residents with severe disabilities, local students, politicians, and high-tech entrepreneurs swim and receive therapy together in the same hydrotherapy pool.

“It’s for all, located in Southern Israel,” Rothchild said. “Not only for Jews, but Christians, Muslims, and atheists,” Rothchild said. “It’s for the entire community.”

ADI Negev-Nahalat Eran features fully accessible residential villas for people with multiple disabilities and complex medical conditions, an intensive care hospital wing, special education school, green care farm, hydrotherapy and sports therapy complexes, therapeutic horse stable and petting zoo, and The Harvey and Gloria Kaylie Rehabilitation Medical Center – the first-ever rehabilitation hospital in Israel’s south.

Rothchild knows.

“I’ve made no less than seven trips to Israel,” she said, “And since 2015 we have sent close to 3,000 people on a four-day mission; twice-a-month, as volunteers.”

Dawn Rothchild wonders – “Why can’t we have something like that here?”

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