Yad L'hakhlama (Reach to Recovery) in Israel

"Yad L'hakhlama" (YL), initiated in 1967 as part of the Israel Cancer Association, is a national rehabilitation service for patients suffering from breast cancer. In Israel, about 1,000 new cases of breast cancer are diagnosed yearly and about 900 of the patients undergo mastectomy. YL reaches some 97% of these women. The office and central administration in Tel Aviv supervise the chapters in various cities. Eighty volunteers work in 26 hospitals throughout the country. Local and national card indexes of mastectomy patients are kept so that follow-up may be done by phone, through the mail or by additional counseling in the office. Assistance is given to the needy when necessary. YL keeps in contact with American and European manufacturers regarding prostheses and recommends imports to commercial agents for local supply. Fitters are selected and approved by YL, which also provides a temporary prosthetic device and a manual listing available accessories to all mastectomy patients. Lectures and information for professional and medical staff and students are given throughout the year. Some of the specific problems that YL handles are: 1) encouraging the acknowledgement and acceptance of the word "cancer" in certain hospitals and oncological centers, 2) overcoming the myths and superstition surrounding cancer; 3) improving doctor-patient relationships; and 4) recurrence of disease among the volunteers.