A Boost of Encouragement
Hospitalized children contend not only with a complex medical condition, but also with being cut off from routine and with experiences of uncertainty and anxiety. The educational space within the hospital serves as an anchor of stability for them, and we see the educational teams on the ground as the greatest experts on these children's needs.
Advancing educational innovation in hospitals through the teams' initiatives
The "A Boost of Encouragement" program was born to identify needs that arise from the field and to enable teams to develop and lead innovative pedagogical initiatives that advance the recovery process, strengthen children's sense of capability, and support the preservation of educational and social continuity. To turn vision into reality, we provide a broad framework of support, including professional guidance from experts throughout the entire development process — from shaping the idea to putting it into practice in the educational centers. The program includes substantial implementation grants of tens of thousands of shekels per initiative, group and individual learning sessions, and continuing-education credit for professional development.
By combining digital tools, creativity, and human sensitivity, we strengthen the collaboration between educational and medical teams and ensure the development of relevant, sustainable responses. The program's overarching goal is to turn pedagogical ideas into sustainable solutions that advance the recovery process, strengthen children's resilience and sense of capability, and ensure the preservation of educational and social continuity.
In the program's first cohort (2024–25), a diverse range of initiatives was developed to address medical and emotional situations: at Barzilai Medical Center, games were created to help children cope with medical procedures; at HaEmek Medical Center, an experiential preparation workshop for colonoscopy was established; and at Sheba, virtual reality (VR) was introduced to reduce pre-surgery anxiety. In mental health and rehabilitation, the "Café Alma" therapeutic coffee cart was set up in Ness Ziona as an occupational-training hub, and at the Maor school, tangible tools for emotional regulation were developed for adolescents hospitalized in an acute psychiatric ward.
In the second cohort (2025–26), additional initiatives were selected that broaden the emotional and community response, among them a "mobile clinic for toy animals" at Kaplan for processing the hospitalization experience in early childhood, and the "Window to the Heart" emotional-journey journal at Soroka. The "Brave Connection" project worked to strengthen the link between the mental-health setting and the community in order to reduce stigma; the "Scents of Light" initiative at Asif fostered a sense of meaning through an entrepreneurial soap-making process; and in Nazareth, a culturally accessible educational-emotional escape room was established. Each such project is a true "boost of encouragement" that creates for children and their families a "normal" daily routine and a space of hope, advancing personal resilience and the recovery process.