Lubavitch Yeshiva Converted Into Covid-19 Rehab Center

By COLlive reporter

The Crown Heights Comprehensive Rehabilitation Center, a temporary medical facility that will be treating local Jewish residents who are recovering from Covid-19, is set to open on Monday, May 11.

It is located in the events hall of the United Lubavitcher Yeshiva on Crown Street (entrance on Albany Avenue) which has moved to home-based and online classes during the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

A comprehensive and fully-staffed team, including primary care doctors, physiatrists, physical and occupational therapists, specializing in post-Covid-19 rehabilitation, will be on hand to offer physical and respiratory therapy, social and family re-integration, nutrition, and well-being.

The medical staff includes Dr. Eli Rosen, Dr. Hillel Isseroff, Dr. Ira Kreisler, and Dr. Yanky Engelberg and his physical therapy and occupational therapy staff. All staff will be equipped with personal protective equipment (PPE), while therapeutic devices and gym equipment will be regularly cleaned and sanitized between use.

“From the moment you arrive, you are treated with the utmost respect and dignity from our therapy treatment specialists, while an individualized plan, including evidence-based clinical and holistic treatment, is created for you and your personal recovery,” the center stated. “At our full-service rehab center, you will receive world-class treatment programs in a friendly, clean, and supportive environment.”

This facility is strictly a non-Covid facility which means that all personnel going into the building will be screened prior to entry. All patients must have a negative PCR Covid test prior to being admitted for therapy. Visitors will not be allowed into the therapy rooms at any time while in session.

Hatzalah of Crown Heights is instrumental in the operation of the facility. Yingy Bistritzky, Head of Crown Heights Hatzalah, was the visionary behind its creation and worked tirelessly with the organizers to make it happen.

“All Hatzalah members will be involved in one way or another,” Bistritzky told COLlive. “Whether transitioning patients between the home and the center, attending to patients’ needs by moving them from one form of therapy to another or by running errands for the patients and facility,” he said.

Golan Ben-Oni, a local resident and tech expert who helped set up the center, said they are currently situated to manage between 15-30 patients, with overflow capacity to expand to 50. He added that it will be a temporary facility and is planned to shut down within 5-6 weeks, but stressed that the need for it is critical.

“Often, a critical and most painful part of the current hospitalization crisis is being further perpetuated after discharge,” he told COLlive.com. “Thus family and social integration are being further delayed.”

He explained that “by having the patients sleep at home (together with required nursing, health aide, social, and Hatzalah support necessary), and then attend a full-day program of rehab, together with other local residents will accomplish the best of all worlds and be ideal.”

Ben-Oni, Chief Information Officer of the IDT Corporation, said the proposed model can also be generalized to other communities, “many of whom have identical challenges: one of the worst being the isolation from family.”

All services are free of charge to members of the community, he stressed, thanking anonymous donors for their kind contributions (he notes that it has not been fully covered yet). They are also offering free transportation for drop-off and pickup.

Patients are recommended to bring loose-fitting clothing, and appropriate shoes (sneakers). Changing rooms will be available.

Orientation takes place daily between 9:00 and 9:30 AM, with therapy hours from 10 AM to 5 PM daily, Sunday through Friday. Nutritional kosher lunch will be served daily, as well as hot drinks (tea, coffee) and snacks.

For questions, call 718-874-1482 or email [email protected] .

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