"Jerusalem Community Health Centers" - with the dental clinic for the needy "Chasei Yitzchak", were founded in 1984 by Ms. Esther Porush and Rabbi Yona Vislovsky.
The goal was to establish a dental clinic of high quality for the needy,.
Previously, those who could not pay for dental treatments, were simply left without them, which manifested itself in irreversible damage, and tooth extraction instead of treatment. Young people reached the point where they simply had no teeth.
It was an innovative idea, and logistically complex. At the core of the idea was an impossible goal: dental treatments of the quality of a private clinic, but at the price of a public clinic.
Well-known dentists, experts in their field, joined the idea, and with enormous efforts, what seemed impossible, became reality.
Initially, the clinic operated out of an old-fashioned building in the Bocharim neighborhood of Jerusalem, and with the gread demand, a plot of land in the center of Jerusalem was allocated on lease from the Jerusalem Municipality, on which a modern building was built that serves the many activities of the centers.
Through great efforts, and with the help of a mortgage taken by the founding families, and with the help of donations from the Jewish Federation in Toronto, Canada, and the Reichman family, Canada, the first charity clinic in Jerusalem began to operate.
A special financial plan was built, and today is a model for a proper financial infrastructure in other charity clinics.
We are recognized by all authorities as a charitable, non-commercial organization, and work in coordination with the welfare offices.
The JCHC has an orderly proper management permit every year, and we meet all the requirements of the Registrar of Associations.
Today, the clinic operates in the new building at 30 Tahkamoni St. in the Geuola neighborhood, with 36 years of experience, and with the help of 18 top-notch dentists, operating 7 treatment chairs, and performing thousands of treatments per month, through general dentists, children's dentists, an oral and maxillofacial specialist, a root canal specialist, periodontist, orthodontists, and professional staff.
Every week, dozens of new patients join the clinic, and we work as hard as we can to develop, add treatment rooms and updated treatments, and meet the increased demand.
Treatment prices are approximately 40-60% lower than in private doctors' clinics, while maintaining a high quality of treatment, and fine materials, equivalent to a private one. Most of our doctors work in private clinics...
At the same time, there are still patients who cannot afford it, and they receive significant relief through scholarships for cases that have been examined and found worthy.
An important principle in the association is to allow every patient to receive treatment in a dignified manner, without giving the impression that it is actually about helping those in need, despite the discounted price.
The clinic is also a 'Kupat cholim' service provider for free dental treatments for children.
In addition to the Chasadi Yitzhak dental clinic, the association operates the "Restart" center - an innovative approach to imparting information and providing emotional and physical care. The "Restart" center is engaged in a groundbreaking project, in collaboration with the Jerusalem Municipality and the Ministry of Health, for a healthy lifestyle and disease prevention, by training the public in the areas of healthy nutrition and a healthy lifestyle, alongside life changing treatments for the health of the body and mind at a minimal cost.
Example story from the dental clinic:
Friday, 8:30 am.
Two crying children enter the clinic. Standing in front of the reception, crying and crying, and are unable to talk
The staff tries to calm them down without success. A rather long time passes until the eldest of them begins to tell:
We live in the next street. My brother Haim suffered from a toothache all night. He cried in great pain. Mother gave him paracetamol, so he slept, until he woke up in pain again.
When morning came, mother said to us: You really need to see a dentist, but what can I do - money to pay a dentist - we don't have…
So I decided to bring my brother to the clinic myself and ask for first aid treatment.
Maybe you can help us...? Maybe you will agree to take care of his teeth for free, so the pain stops already...?!
And the tears choked his throat again..
Haim received dedicated treatment fully subsidized by the clinic's charity fund, and Haim (and his mother) were again able to sleep at night.