Medical Staff of All Origins Work Together

April 2020 Health

Fonda Dubb, walking the first day after her hip replacement with her physiotherapist, at Tel Hashomer Hospital, Nov 8, 2019

According to the organization StandWithUs, 35 percent of all doctors in Israel are from the Arab sector.I have had five operations in Tel Hashomer hospital over a period of 10 years. I almost feel like a member.Arab doctors have treated me with utmost care. I want to draw attention to this because of the "hate mail" on Facebook towards the Arab population. Many of these doctors live in the West Bank and despite their hardships still manage to give humane attention to their patients. We should not judge people collectively.

I had an Arab woman anesthetist who was very kind and gentle in her search for my veins, something I'm very fearful of prior to an operation. Telling me not to worry, she would find them with the help of a special magnifying glass. The Russian nurse Takinke told me she would be "my personal nurse" during the operation. Those words were very calming and subdued my fear about the operation.

The day I left Tel Hashomer, I was given one hour's notice from Beit BaLev, a rehabilitation home in Raanana, to be ready for the ambulance that was collecting me. I got into a flap. You'd have thought I was going searching for my diamonds. Ruti, a nurse from Brazil, on witnessing my outburst brought me a glass of water and holding my arm took me for a walk down the passage, reassuring me all the time the positive aspects of leaving the hospital.

Having no time to say goodbye to the staff, to my physiotherapist, and to my surgeon, Dr Gideon Burstein, was one of my dilemmas. Then the head nurse, an Indian lady, came to reassure me and attended to me with me the utmost kindness despite herself being under pressure to have my discharge papers ready.

The ambulance driver arrived to collect me exactly on time. The Arab doctor who was on duty wouldn't allow me to leave until he'd taken my blood pressure and he told the ambulance driver to wait. The doctor arrived with the blood pressure machine, on wheels, and took my blood pressure which had jumped sky high from stress, and he made me rest for a while before releasing me from the hospital. The ride took about 45 minutes. On arrival at Beit BaLev, my son received a call from the same Arab doctor who'd taken my blood pressure to find out how his mother was.

All these different nationalities working together hand-in-hand with love, devotion and humanity with Israeli doctors and nurses showed me the humane side for peace.

It is possible!

Thank you Tel Hashomer.
Fonda Dubb

Eilat

About the author

Fonda Dubb

Fonda was born in Pietersburg, South Africa. After finishing school, she studied ballet at the University of Cape Town Ballet School. During this period, she worked as a fashion model for leading fashion houses. Fondas husband, Mark Dubb, from Port Elizabeth, was an architect, volunteered to "Nachal" in 1956 and completed his Israeli Army training as a paratrooper.

Fonda and Mark made Aliyah to Israel in March, 1988. They have 3 children, all in Israel. After attending the Hebrew Ulpan in Raanana for one month, Fonda was asked to take over a ballet studio for 6 months. Not having the language, it was a nightmare, not being able to discipline and communicate with the children and the parents.

A friend had heard about her love of catering and asked her to do a small function for 50 people in Israel. It was a success, and the next day she was approached to do a function for 250 people. That was how Fonda started catering professionally. In 1989, she opened "Fonda Catering", subsequently working for 15 years as a caterer for the South African Embassy. In addition, she did general catering: bar mitzvahs, weddings, etc.

Her husband Mark, an architect, as well as right-hand man in the catering business, died very suddenly in 1999, at the age of 65. Fonda decided to close her business and moved to Eilat 8 years ago. In Eilat, Fonda started doing voluntary work for WIZO – giving demonstrations and organizing group birthday parties, escorting the blind club on their "tyulim" and helping them whenever needed. She teaches English to children of Ethiopian olim through the medium of cooking, and visits the sick at a convalescent center. One of her projects is selling Ethiopian craftwork for ESRA. She also writes articles for ESRA and TelFed Magazines.

Looking back on her busy life – only part of which is written here – Fonda feels very grateful for the gifts and blessings received.

Fonda received numerous awards from ESRA, including:

In 2002 for founding the Widows/Widowers group
In 2004 for being an English tutor
In 2018 for all her volunteering in ESRA over 30 years – catering for numerous ESRA events; for setting up ESRA in Eilat when she moved to live there and ensuring that it be active and for selling ESRA Ethiopian embroidered goods on the Eilat beachfront.

In 2012 Fonda received the prestigious" Woman of the Year" Award from the Mayor Meir Itzhak Ha'Levi for her volunteering in Eilat.