Awards to pioneering women in the field of health. Photo: Haim Versano, KKL-JNF Spokespersons Unit
On the evening of August 2, 2021, a women's empowerment and health event took place at KKL-JNF's Ben Shemen forest. The event was a joint initiative of KKL-JNF and the Na'amat Israeli Women's Movement. As part of the event, the "Healthy Women" award of honor was presented to three women who contribute towards promoting women's health. Award recipients included Dr. Donna Zfat, Director of the Linda Joy Pollin Cardiovascular Wellness Center for Women at Hadassah Hospital; Hila Elroy, a journalist and head of the Health Desk at Channel 13 News; and Dr. Yasmin Farhadian, an intern in obstetrics and oncology at the Wolfson Medical Center in Holon.
In addition to the awards ceremony, the 100th anniversary of Na'amat and 120th anniversary of KKL-JNF were also noted. Participants at the event enjoyed workshops on nutrition, movement, art and empowerment.
Here are the stories of the recipients of the "Healthy Women" awards:
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Dr. Donna Zfat is the Director of the Linda Joy Pollin Cardiovascular Wellness Center for Women at Hadassah Hospital, where she is a senior cardiologist along with serving as center director. As the director and founder of the Cardiovascular Wellness Center for the past seven years, Dr. Donna Zfat devotes her life to increasing awareness of heart disease among women and to decreasing mortality rates in Israel and abroad. The Center promotes programs for change in lifestyle and impacts hundreds of thousands of women, including: a joint program with Na'amat for training welfare directors to promote health at the workplace, which led to change in over 30 workplaces. The Center developed designated programs for women in ultra-Orthodox society for lifestyle change and improvement, along with facilitating a number of programs for empowerment and promotion of health for women from East Jerusalem, including leadership programs that led to projects for furthering women in their neighborhoods, in addition to other activities.
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Hila Elroy has been volunteering at Magen David Adom in Israel (MDA) since she was 14. Later on, at age 23, when she was a news desk editor at Israeli Army radio, she took part in a medic's course, an ambulance driver's course, and learned emergency medicine at MDA. In 2008, she joined Channel 10 (which later became Channel 13) News as their health correspondent. In 2017, she discovered a cancerous lump in her breast, and documented the entire process with the help of Maya Eiden. Ms. Elroy publicized the entire process on Channel 13 for the benefit of anyone who has to deal, has dealt or will have to deal with cancer in the future.
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Dr. Yasmin Farhadian is an intern in obstetrics and oncology at the Wolfson Medical Center in Holon. Dr. Farhadian began her academic career at the age of 15, when she studied political science and Middle Eastern studies at Bar Ilan University. After serving in the Ministry of Defense, she decided to also study medicine at Tel Aviv University, and did her internship at the Sheba Medical Center. While still a young student, Dr. Farhadian organized and produced the first medical research hackathon in Israel, which was entirely dedicated to medical research, focusing on gender and sex-conscious medicine. In addition, she took part in changing the curriculum of the Faculty of Medicine where she had studied just a few years ago so that it would include taking sex and gender into consideration.
KKL-JNF National Employees Organization Chairman Yisrael Goldstein stated:
"This is an excellent opportunity to salute these powerful, leading and pioneering women in diverse medical fields, and also for us to say 'thank you' to them. A ceremony like this is very important, especially now after a year and a half of an international pandemic that affected each and every one of us, and every aspect of our lives. It reminds us that without 'health', we are no more than leaves in the wind. I am very pleased to collaborate with Na'amat and hope for more joint projects in the future."
Na'amat Chairwoman Hagit Pe'er congratulated the award recipients and said that although now, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Na'amat Israeli Women's Movement, women are making very impressive and exceptional achievements on their own merit, they still must continue to fight for their rightful places. This award is presented to these talented women for their achievements in the field of medicine, for their significant contribution to this field, and for increasing awareness of the importance of protecting our health and life itself."