Netanel suffered from a heart condition and he had difficulty swallowing which caused him to aspirate food into his lungs and led to pneumonia. Although his parents had tried to care for him at home the frequent hospitalizations and his intense needs made this impossible for him. “We admitted him for treatment and rehabilitation. We were aware that this would be a lengthy process.”

Elinor decided to make that process as homey and nurturing as possible to the little baby. His room — until now referred to as the isolation room — became “Netanel’s room.” The plain walls were hung with pictures one nurse brought in a set of pretty blue linen and all the nurses contributed a selection of baby accessories and toys. An unspoken pact had been made between the staff: This baby will not grow up in a cold sterile environment.

With no mother to cuddle and caress whisper and hum the nurses took on the role. Foremost was Elinor who was assigned to fewer patients so that she could spend time caring for Netanel. Every morning Elinor gently washed Netanel and spent an hour massaging him and playing with him.

“Massage is beneficial for every baby ” explains Debbie Bek the head nurse of Elinor’s investment. “It’s especially important for a baby whose baseline is inferior.” After a few weeks Netanel began registering his interest. “He would cry when I stopped the massage ” Elinor recalls. “He wanted more. After a while he learned that there’d be more the next day.”

When Elinor and the other nurses were busy with their duties volunteers cared for Netanel. Elinor brought in gentle music and stimulating toys and taught the volunteers how to challenge Netanel through play.

“He blossomed. You could see he was happy. And then one day he smiled.”

Netanel progressed further, learning the joys of social interaction and even jumping in his crib to the music.

Fight for Life

Netanel’s precarious medical condition meant that sudden fluctuations in his health were part and parcel of his care. His weakened immune system meant that he caught infections easily and often ended up in intensive care. Dr. Ofir was very involved with his health care, and with the parents having withdrawn from his care, the hospital financed all consultations and treatments.

At times, this meant soliciting opinions from professionals in other hospitals. Elinor was on hand to shoulder the burden of his care: “I’d accompany him in one of the hospital ambulances,” she says. Little by little, Netanel’s medical issues were resolved, until the time was right to begin weaning him off a feeding tube. “We recruited a physical therapist, but no one thought she’d succeed,” says Dr. Ofir. “After being fed by a feeding tube for an extended period of time, a child has to be retaught how to eat.”

While the physical therapist could teach the relevant techniques, it was up to the nurses to implement them. Doing so was hugely time consuming, but the nurses persisted, despite the steady pressure of the hospital routine. Netanel learned to eat, and the bouts with pneumonia decreased.

By the age of two and a half, Netanel was a fixture in the ward. His room was a lively, happy place, and despite his nonstandard home, he was showered with love and care. He was eating well, and Dr. Ofir carefully planned the next stage of his recovering health: weaning him off oxygen during the day.

This was a transformative stage. From then on, Netanel was able to take trips out of the hospital, in a stroller purchased by the nurses. The volunteers took him to the park, the shops, and even to their homes, so that Netanel would begin to experience the world outside the ward.

Pushing Forward

“Every child who suffers from chronic disease has developmental delays,” Dr. Ofir explains. “A sick child needs to deal with his pneumonia, not with forming words and sentences. But by that stage, Netanel had stabilized and we decided to invest heavily in his development. For this, we again drew upon the nurses’ love and devotion.”

All the while, the hospital social workers were making efforts to find a loving foster family who would be willing to take on Netanel’s care. But who would take on a two-and-a-half-year-old toddler with Down syndrome, multiple health issues, and significant developmental delays?

With his health stable and no foster family on the horizon, pressure was exerted by the medical insurance company to transfer Netanel to an institution, where his care would be cheaper. One of the nurses involved in Netanel’s care visited the proposed institution and returned distressed. An ad hoc meeting was called, where a unanimous decision was made: sending Netanel to an institution would be detrimental to his development. There, he wouldn’t receive the attention and love he needed, and the upheaval would be devastating. The only transfer they would allow would be into the loving arms of a foster family.

Matters came to a head when the insurance company decided to cut off funding. An emergency meeting was called between the hospital administration and the staff of the children’s ward. “After intense negotiations, the decision was reached that the Health Fund would reimburse the hospital for the cost of care in a rehabilitative facility,” relates Dr. Ofir. “That reimbursement covered roughly half the cost of a day of hospitalization. The other half was contributed by the staff; all of us, from the senior medical staff to the auxiliary staff, deducted from our salaries to pay for Netanel’s care.”

“The volunteers helped too,” Elinor says, completing the picture. “They advertised that we need donations for a baby abandoned in Mayanei Hayeshuah. In this way, the shortfall was covered.”