in Israel, the Haifa hospital transforms its underground parking lot into a kindergarten, safe from rockets

The country’s third city is regularly targeted by Hezbollah rockets. To allow caregivers to continue working, the hospital had this somewhat special idea.

Three weeks after the intensification of fighting against Hezbollah, Israeli society is trying to adapt to the war and the rockets still being sent in large numbers to the north of the country. In Haifa, the third most populous city and regularly targeted, the hospital has put in place a unique system to allow caregivers to continue working: an underground parking lot has been transformed into a kindergarten, protected from missiles.

It is on the second level of the underground car park that the kindergarten was installed, not far from the geriatrics department moved here to protect it from rockets. In the vast alleys, a group of little girls are frolicking; Sophie’s school is closed because of the war. “I prefer coming here to going to school! We feel more protected, she says. There are at least two of us, we don’t hear the external warning sirens. I like being here.”

In the parking spaces, paper fences have been erected to close off spaces, one of which is reserved for babies. Shayli comes out with her daughter in the stroller. “It saves me “, she believes. Without this type of care, Shayli would no longer be able to come and work in her radiology department; her daughter’s nursery is partially closed. “In her usual nursery, there is a shelter, but the childcare workers have to go there with five children in their arms, with babies who are still crawling, she describes. All that in one minute, it’s not easy. It reassures me that my daughter is there.”

Remaining in a green blouse, Assia also says she is reassured to know her four children are well sheltered, even if a kindergarten in a parking lot is not idyllic. “It’s sad and I wish they were outside, she laments. But even if they were at home, they wouldn’t be able to go out. And at least here they do activities, they see their friends and then there is room to run!”

Ball games, board games, cartoons, carpet sliding are also very successful. “It’s a bit chaotic as you see.” Noam, facilitator, insists on the need to support children, especially when they hear rocket alerts on cell phones. “As soon as it rings, they panic, they call their parents, ask them if they are safe,” she says. They’re stressed, but I also think it makes them grow, they look out for each other, they help each other.”

It has been three weeks since this huge daycare with more than 500 places was installed, a first, but not improvised, recalls Meirav Ganot, in charge of well-being at work within the hospital. “We have been preparing for this kind of scenario since the 2006 war, she reminds. There had been a lot of missiles on Haifa. And in the hospital area, many homes had been affected. Now in the event of an emergency, hundreds of employees know they are assigned to set up this space.”

An essential space, adds Meirav Ganot. The Haifa hospital receives wounded civilians and soldiers from the ongoing war against Hezbollah.