Teaching gerontological content to schoolchildren in Israel as preparation for adult life.

An Israeli public school made gerontological content and experiences available to pupils aged 13-14. The learning process included library research, interviewing older residents in their homes, friendly visiting to a nearby home for the aged, formal lectures, role-playing before video cameras operated by classmates, and homework assignments. Children who participated were reported to have improved relations with their own grandparents. The school received public recognition for its pedagogic pioneering, and "town-gown relations" between municipal officials and the University were enhanced.

Emergency centers in Israel: A small community organizes to cope with war related crises*.

This paper focuses on community-wide emergencies caused by war-related events in Lebanon at the beginning of June 1982. Mobilization for the "Peace for Galilee" campaign began on Friday, 4th June. Overnight, families were disrupted, husbands and sons were in danger, and within 24 hours there were notifications of casualities and deaths. Families in crisis became a widespread phenomenon. In Herzlia, as in many other communities, a new service - the Emergency Center - emerged under the auspices of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs and the Municipality. The authors describe this process of getting organized, the populations served, how the Center was staffed, the role of citizen volunteers, and the types of interventions used to help vulnerable families as well as soldiers home on leave. Stress is placed on the unique type of short-term co-operation achieved between social workers of the local Department of Social Welfare, the staff of the Department of Community Services (especially its Volunteer Bureau), the local liason officer of the Israel Defence Force, the municipal government, and public-spirited volunteers. Mention is made of conditions which made possible the activation of such a service within hours, of the Center's capacity to serve all segments of the population, and of how it was deactivated within a few weeks when the emergency ended. On the basis of lessons learned from this experience, the paper ends with a number of specific recommendations. The authors hope that such innovative forms of crisis-intervention will become part of the helping technology widely available at the community level in future years.