The
Zichron Menachem Day Center in Jerusalem is the first and
only educational, recreational and rehabilitation center in Israel that has been
developed for the exclusive use of children with cancer and their families.
The
ZM Day Center serves a crucial and vital purpose for children
who are sick with cancer and undergoing treatment. These children have suppressed
immune systems due to chemotherapy and therefore, in order to protect their already
fragile health, they must be kept away from school and social events. Instead
of being isolated, bored and depressed, these sick children can attend the
ZM
Day Center six days a week, where they continue their studies and enjoy
a wide range of fun and entertaining activities.
Music, computers, art, aerodynamics, sports, photography and journalism are but
a few of the many extra-curricular activities offered to the sick children. The
ZM Day Center offers these same enjoyable activities to the sick
child’s brothers and sisters during the afternoon and early evening hours, five
days a week.
The great demand for the services offered at the
ZM Day Center
lead to the need to increase the Center’s size and range of activities. In 2004
the Center moved from rented quarters to its own facility which was custom-designed
to meet the specific needs of children with cancer and their families.
ZM’s new Day Center in Jerusalem is located in close proximity to the Shaare Zedek
Medical Center, and not far from the Hadassah Ein Kerem Medical Center. The state-of-the-art
ZM Day Center contains specially-designed activity areas such
as the Teenagers Club Room, a Complementary Medicine Wing, and a unique Video-Conferencing
Room that doubles as the meeting place for Parents Support Groups. These special
additions to the ultra-modern facilities function alongside the Day Center’s Music
Wing, Computers Center, Sports Wing, Education Wing, Toddlers’ Activity Room and
Arts & Crafts Room.
The
ZM Day Center, designed by the renowned Jerusalem architectural
firm, Oster Lang, is characterized by its special design concept. In 2004, the
ZM Day Center won a prize in the “House of Quality” competition
sponsored by the Jerusalem municipality, the Architects Association, the Building
Contractors Association and Bank Tefahot.