The Malki Foundation Therapies at Home program, including the Lilly and Alexander Enten Memorial Hydrotherapy Fund, provides therapies to children with severe disabilities in Israel who are living at home, and not in an institution. It is our firm belief that the best environment for a child’s development is in the family home. The multiple challenges faced by these children on a daily basis are very extreme: they require all the love and care the family can muster… and as much paramedical therapy support as they can afford. The cost of therapies, and finding the money to fund it, is a major factor in the lives of such families. Schools provide some therapies, but never enough.
Through Therapies at Home, the Malki Foundation subsidizes the cost of the five most important non-medical therapies:
Initially launched in 2003, the Therapies at Home program has been running in its current format since 2012. Over the last few years we have steadily expanded and stabilized the program, supporting as many children as our budget allows.
To qualify for Keren Malki support, the child needs to be diagnosed as having a significant disability, must reside in the family home rather than in an institution, and have taken advantage of their school / HMO therapies. We do not require proof of income, we do not take into account a family’s socioeconomic status as part of our acceptance criteria.
On application, the only documentation required is a doctor’s report attesting to the disability, and a note from the HMO showing the entitlement, or lack there of. Therapies at Home does not come in place of government subsidized HMO, but rather as a supplement to the little or no therapies available to these children. We aim to empower families to be active decision-makers in their child’s wellbeing by allowing them to decide which therapy is best for their child and to pick the therapist with whom they are comfortable and trust.
Once accepted to the program, the parents work independently with the therapist in order to achieve the best outcome for their child. The family is given an annual budget, which on average amounts to 6 therapy sessions a month per child. Once a month parents mail the therapy receipts to Keren Malki and are reimbursed 85-100% of the cost of each therapy.
