The Yuri Shtern Holistic Center - Who are we?

The Yuri Shtern Holistic Center is a non-profit organization providing holistic treatments to people dealing with cancer and their family members. 

The non-profit was founded in 2007 by the Shtern family, as well as friends and colleagues to commemorate the life of Dr. Yuri Shtern, who passed away from cancer.

Yuri Shtern was one of the leaders of the Jewish immigration from the Soviet Union. In his life he promoted many goals in Israeli society. Yuri fought a brave battle against cancer, and passed away on January 2007, at the age of 57.

The Center operates according to a unique model created by Lena Shtern, Yuri’s widow, and the center’s founder. The initiative to establish the center was the result of Lena’s painful personal and professional experience which she collected during Yuri’s treatments, and as she supported and accompanied him throughout.

The Center’s operating model is the first and only of its kind, in that it incorporates professional volunteers in the field of alternative medicine that is complemented by constant support and guidance by the center’s caregivers. The support and guidance are done through a unique and dedicated program, designed to train professional caregivers that can volunteers in the center.

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 The Holistic Center provides over 13,000 alternative medical treatments annually, to thousands of oncological and cancer patients and their families, which are given by a team of 170 certified caregivers, all of whom are volunteers. The treatments are given without cost at the Children’s Hospital Oncological Center in the Shaare Zedek Medical Center, in complete cooperation with the medical team, Prof. Natan Charny and Prof. Nir Peled, the director of the Oncological Center. The Holistic Center also operates two community clinics in Jerusalem and Herzliya, in which an array of alternative medical treatments is provided: various touch-based treatments, Japanese and Chinese community acupuncture, body-mind treatments and rehabilitation.

 The Yuri Shtern Holistic center’s activity allows patients to receive alternative medical treatments, support and accompaniment in the periods between treatments, in the recovery and return to work period, or during the last stages of life. In all of these, our guiding principle is: “we are all one human tissue.”

Background and Needs:

According to the date of the Israel Cancer Association, there are more than 250,000 existing cancer patients in Israel, with an additional 30,000 annual new diagnoses. Research has shown that during the period of the disease and after it, alternative medical treatments – such as touch-based therapy, acupuncture, body-mind treatments, etc. – are beneficial to both the body and the mind, ease the challenges of dealing with cancer, relieve many of the side effects associated with the disease and treatments, and meaningfully improve both the quality of life and the prognosis. The cost of such treatments in the private sector ranges from 200-450 NIS. The center’s activity allows those dealing with cancer from various sectors (Jews, Arabs, immigrants, orthodox, elderly, holocaust survivors, low-income individuals and more) to take advantage of this possibility without pay or with a symbolic amount, throughout their disease and after it. In addition, the center’s activity allows patients to receive alternative medical treatments, support and accompaniment in the periods between treatments, in the recovery and return to work period, or during the last stages of life. 

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