1952 – THE ESTABLISHMENT OF ILANSHIL

In 1952, during the polio epidemic in Israel, a group of doctors got together and founded an organization which was intended to provide assistance to the victims and their families. The name of the organization was ILANSHIL – a Hebrew acronym denoting "Israeli Organization on Behalf of Polio Victims". A short time after the establishment of ILANSHIL, Ms. Betty Dubiner joined its ranks, and rapidly became one of the pillars of the organization, which she has remained to this day. Under Betty Dubiner`s leadership, the organization gained momentum, initiated and set in motion assistance programs for the polio victims and their families, and enlisted volunteers and supporters throughout Israel. The objective of ILANSHIL was to assist the handicapped children and their families in any way it could, and it succeeded in doing so. In its initial stages, its members were principally active in raising funds for the provision of treatment and the purchase of equipment for polio victims. They soon realized, however, that this was not enough, and that there were many distressing issues for which solutions and assistance had to be provided. Betty Dubiner, with her connections to various influential persons in Israel`s economy, began to enlist Israel`s leaders and society figures in the cause of the organization. ILANSHIL began to expand on a nationwide scale. One year after its establishment, the organization could already claim credit for three major projects on behalf of the handicapped: organization of scholarships for the study of physiotherapy, with a view to resolving the severe shortage of physiotherapists which prevailed in Israel at the time; assistance to families in the purchase of crutches and orthopedic-rehabilitative equipment; opening the first summer camp for handicapped children – one of ILAN`s major projects to this day.

ILANSHIL recruited a great number of supporters and volunteers. In the course of time, the organization established branches throughout Israel. The first of these branches were opened in Tel Aviv and Ramat Gan; subsequently, branches were opened in Haifa, Jerusalem, Rishon Le-Zion and the north of Israel. These branches serve Israel`s handicapped faithfully to this day.

1956: ESTABLISHMENT OF THE POLIO COMMITTEE

By 1953, the number of polio victims in Israel had reached 3,000. In that year, in the United States, Dr. Jonas Salk developed a vaccine for polio, and the Israel Ministry of Health entered into protracted negotiations with the United States for the purchase of the vaccine. The problem was that the United States agreed to supply the vaccine only to a national organization for the assistance of polio victims in Israel, and ILANSHIL, the only organization in Israel which was active on behalf of polio victims, did not succeed in gaining national status.

The Ministry of Health found a solution for the problem: it approached Betty Dubiner and asked her to establish a national organization, to which the United States would consent to provide the vaccine. Betty Dubiner agreed to the request; in 1956, she founded the Polio Committee, a national organization for the assistance of Israel`s polio victims. The Polio Committee subsequently merged with ILANSHIL, which had continued to operate alongside it.

1957: UNIFICATION OF THE ORGANIZATIONS AND THE GREAT VACCINATION CAMPAIGN

In the winter of 1957, the organizations operating on behalf of Israel`s polio victims were crowned with success. The polio vaccine serum was found, and the Ministry of Health and the organizations began to prepare for a nationwide vaccination campaign. ILANSHIL and the Polio Committee merged into a single organization, ILANSHIL-Polio. Together with the Ministry of Health, the new organization was responsible for conducting the great vaccination campaign.

Throughout Israel, vaccination stations were established, and more than 100,000 children between the ages of six months and three years were vaccinated. ILANSHIL-Polio thus became the only organization serving and treating Israel`s polio victims under the auspices of the Israel Ministry of Health, and was recognized as a national organization for the assistance of polio victims in Israel.

1958: THE FIRST "MARCH OF DIMES"

In 1958, ILANSHIL-Polio launched another major effort, which, to this day, constitutes the principal means of raising contributions to the present-day ILAN. This is the "March of Dimes", based on an American tradition. This project started that year, thanks to another of Betty Dubiner`s initiatives.

Until the "March of Dimes", the organization`s activists had used a wide variety of means to raise contributions – from the holding of gala evenings and benefit fairs to the launching of donation campaigns in factories and at the workplaces. The common denominator of all these undertakings was their targeting of a specific segment of the population - well-to-do and having the required financial means. The "March of Dimes" marks the beginning of a new kind of fund-raising, in which the donations come not only from the wealthy, but from all sectors of the population, thus creating a sense of coherence and bringing Israel`s collective heart closer to helping the handicapped.

The "March of Dimes" led to an additional positive development. Thanks to the extensive coverage given to the subject of Israel`s handicapped, the victims and their families stopped being ashamed or embarrassed about the disease and its results. Children who had been hidden were openly cared for, and families knew that they had where to go for help.
Ever since that first "March of Dimes", ILAN has been continuing this tradition, holding a nationwide fund-raising campaign every year.

1960: ESTABLISHMENT OF THE SPIVACK SPORTS CENTER IN RAMAT GAN

At the outset, ILANSHIL, - and later ILANSHIL-Polio, invested most of its time and efforts in providing individual assistance to the polio victims and their families. This assistance included help in the purchase of equipment and the financing of various special needs.

In 1960, the organization began to develop an additional facet of rehabilitation: rehabilitation by the means of sports. This was the idea behind the establishment of a sports and rehabilitation club adapted to the special needs of the handicapped, a place which would supply physical rehabilitation services while serving as a social venue. The objective was to provide physical education for paralyzed children and adolescents, whose handicaps prevented them from participating in sports classes at their schools in Israel.

At that time, this was considered a revolutionary idea. The link between sports and handicapped people, to many – able-bodied and physically challenged alike – appeared to be unthinkable. The only physical activity which was thought to be appropriate for the handicapped was physiotherapy. Competitive sports were considered `off limits`.

Nonetheless, Betty Dubiner and her supporters, including the then Mayor of Ramat Gan, Abraham Krinitzi, refused to give up. They were the first to understand that participating in competitive sports entails aspects of physical, social and mental rehabilitation. They adamantly insisted that the sports center must be established.

The Municipality of Ramat Gan allocated a plot of land on the banks of the Yarkon River to ILANSHIL-Polio. With the assistance of generous donors, the Spivack Family of the United States, the Spivack Rehabilitation and Sports Center – the first sports club for the handicapped in Israel – was opened in 1960.

In the course of the years, it has been proven that sports indeed constitute an important part of the physical and mental rehabilitative process for the handicapped, as well as an essential means for ensuring the disabled a dignified place for themselves in the leisure and employment spheres in their community.

Some of the children and adolescents using the sports center facilities showed special talent and chose to concentrate on competitive sports. Many are participating in national and international sport events including the Paralympics - the Olympic Games for people with disabilities - and are winning prizes and medals, bringing honor to their families and to the entire country.

1964: THE ESTABLISHMENT OF ILAN

In 1964, more than a decade after the polio epidemic was prevailed over, becoming but a distant memory, the second conference of the ILANSHIL-Polio organization took place. At that conference, a proposal was made to extend the services of the organization to children with cerebral palsy. This proposal had been preceded by a series of joint social activities between CP children and polio-stricken children at the Spivack Sports Center.
Some of the members of ILANSHIL-Polio were doubtful about the new idea, which was extensively discussed. Also among the skeptics were members of SHATLAM, Israel`s organization for parents of CP children, then headed by Ephraim Raz. The fears of both groups stemmed from the difference between the diseases and their implications. In cerebral palsy, unlike polio which is caused by an infectious virus, most of the damage is to the brain, making it difficult to know how severe the damage is, and whether the child will suffer from physical disability only or from mental retardation as well. The needs engendered by this type of damage are entirely different from those of polio victims; accordingly, the treatment required is also different. Whereas ILANSHIL-Polio sought to integrate the handicapped children into ordinary community frameworks, SHATLAM