“Noshmim Lirvacha” is a registered non-profit organization established by parents, intended for families with a relative who is on ventilation (invasive/external) or has a tracheostomy.
We believe that a family that invests all its efforts to provide breath and quality of life deserves to have a life full of quality and well-being as well. Our motto at “Noshmim Lirvacha” is that, alongside coping with a ventilated patient at home, it is possible to live with ease and joy. This is what drives us to offer dear families a range of activities that will allow them to realize the reality they deserve.
To provide every family dealing with a ventilated relative with air to breathe.
To be a home for them, where they will receive support for all the needs associated with this way of life.
To restore to the family the confidence that their lives can be filled with happiness, love, peace, and freedom.
The organization serves as a strong community of families that provides resilience, clarity, and a sense of equality.
The organization works for the well-being of ventilated patients and their families, in various areas that, until its establishment, had almost no response.
The organization promotes mutual support within the community, sharing tools and practices based on the experience of its veteran members.
The organization serves as a strong and united community of families, providing its members with resilience, stability, and a sense of 'equality among equals.'
The organization believes that, alongside the challenge at home, life can be filled with happiness and optimism, and works to make this possible for all families.
The organization does not compromise on the highest professional and medical standards in all of its activities.
Studies show that between 2% to 20% of attempts to wean off the endotracheal tube and tracheostomy cannula fail, leaving the patient with chronic ventilation or a permanent need for the cannula.
Yochved Petrof, Chairwoman of the “Noshmim Lirvacha” organization, recounts the beginnings of the wonderful organization:
It all started when our son, Hillel, who suffers from a rare metabolic disease, suddenly experienced a deterioration in his condition.
The deterioration manifested in emergency events of respiratory failure that required resuscitation interventions. After a prolonged hospitalization and thorough investigation, Hillel received a gift: a tracheostomy with a ventilator.
For us, as parents, this was a dramatic turning point in our entire way of life. We had to manage a home intensive care unit and be constantly involved in caring for our child throughout the day.
As the daughter of a doctor, as a paramedic, and as a former teacher at a rehabilitative school for medically dependent children, and both of us as parents who, over the years, hosted various medically dependent children in our home for both long and short periods, we experienced an enormous upheaval.
During the hospitalization period when the possibility of ventilation was discussed, we thought to ourselves: Well, we are familiar with medical devices and situations. How bad could it be? Just another device we’ll have to manage?
But we quickly realized that this story was different. Unlike any other medical complexity, ventilation is a world of its own and is ten times more complicated.
We discovered a whole world of people living their lives, each in their corner, in silent survival, and loneliness. The world around them doesn’t understand, nor can it comprehend, what they are going through.
We felt the need to shout.
To shout the cry of the families.
To be the voice of all those who have run out of strength.
Because these lives are filled with tension. The anxiety over life is the background music.
These are lives that force parents to be constantly by their child’s side, to be bound to a reality with no ability to leave the house, not even to take out the trash.
These lives carve out the parents’ fate of loneliness and social disconnection.
But we couldn’t let that happen. Not to us, and not to our fellow travelers in this journey.
At first, I reached out to a few mothers like me. We met.
And since then, it’s all history.
The group quickly grew, one friend brought another. Finally, we found companions for the journey, those who speak the same language.
We quickly realized that there was a desperate need for a volunteer network with professional medical training. People who could allow parents to take a break, to go out together for a few hours. So, we created it.
We quickly understood that we had to organize weekends full of atmosphere and warmth, refreshing vacations, and smiles, empowering bonding sessions, create collaborations with organizations that can help, promote laws and regulations, solve emerging problems, offer advice, provide support, make information accessible, and take action.
We did it.
And we will continue to do so, with God’s help.
And all of this, with deep love and a big hug for each wonderful family like this one.
We are filled with hope to continue giving, supporting, and providing the exclusive range of services we have built, and to continue ensuring for these dear families lives of dignity, love, joy, and even… freedom!
The first descriptions of tracheostomy appear in Hindu texts from 2000 BCE and in Egyptian texts from 1500 BCE.
