The Jerusalem Center for Children with Visual Impairments and Multiple Disabilities

Keren Or moved to its current location in Ramot, Jerusalem in 1991. Since then, the student body has grown from 40 ambulatory students to 100 students with profound needs. 90% of our students use wheelchairs, and all require one on-one assistance with the most basic activities of daily living.

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To accommodate our continually growing student body, and their increasingly complex needs, we must urgently renovate our facility. We plan to add new classrooms, enlarge existing ones, renovate the bathrooms to protect the privacy and dignity of our students, and install a large elevator to accommodate four wheelchairs simultaneously.

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To accommodate the rapidly growing number of students who need our services, and their increasingly complex needs, we must: 

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• Add new classrooms

• Enlarge existing classrooms

• Expand our hallways so students can comfortably ambulate

• Create storage areas for medical and therapeutic equipment

• Refurbish the bathrooms by installing adjustable beds and large, upright changing stations that preserve the privacy and dignity of our young adult students

• Redesign interiors to incorporate CVI adaptations in accordance with new research in the field of Cortical Visual Impairment

More than 90% of Keren Or’s children have been diagnosed with Cortical Visual Impairment.  CVI is a type of visual impairment which results from damage to the visual centers of the brain, so the eyes are able to see, but the brain is not able to interpret what is being seen.  New research demonstrates that the environment can have a dramatic on a child with CVI’s ability to see.  Our CVI-adapted facility will be the first of its kind in Israel. 

 

The newly renovated CVI-adapted facility will have:

• strong contrasts, and specially chosen colors and textures 

• reduced visual clutter in furnishings, walls and floors

• ample storage space so that additional visual clutter is reduced

• acoustic ceilings

• features that allow for natural light while reducing the sun’s glare

• sensory landmarks that help students develop orientation and mobility skills  

• multiple, readily accessible electrical outlets for students’ adaptive technology

 

Every architectural and design feature will be selected for its positive impact on our students’ vision, mobility and orientation.

For more information about naming and dedication opportunities, please contact Shira Reifman at Shira@kerenor.org.il

Your investment in the new Keren Or Center will ensure a brighter future for our children.  Please join us in building a facility – the very structure and design of which – will be an important part of the therapeutic process. 

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For more information about naming or dedication opportunities please contact Shira Reifman at Shira@kerenor.org.il  or Carolyn Keller at Carolyn@keren-or.org

 

Thank you for turning dreams into reality.