City Notes: Syrian baby born in Safed hospital

Ceremony participants planted trees in the seating area and around the base, and the Netafim company donated an automatic irrigation system.

By COMPILEDTAMARA ZIEVE
Esther Ambar, the nurse in charge of the Neonatal Department at the Ziv Medical Center, with the seventh Syrian baby born at the hospital. (photo credit: Courtesy)
Esther Ambar, the nurse in charge of the Neonatal Department at the Ziv Medical Center, with the seventh Syrian baby born at the hospital.
(photo credit: Courtesy)
NORTH
A healthy Syrian baby was born last week at Safed’s Ziv Medical Center to a 25-year-old woman brought in from Quneitra after her water had broken.
Amid ongoing fighting in Syria, the woman told medical staff the situation was extremely tough: “My pregnancy was very difficult. Because of the war, there is a shortage of food and there are no health and birthing facilities. I knew that I was already in my 40th week and the birth was imminent, and there was no one who could help me.”
She told the staff she had heard from relatives and friends that Syrians transferred to Israel receive good treatment. “Despite my fears, as soon as I felt contractions I requested assistance in getting to the border in order to get medical aid. The IDF picked me up at the border and transferred me to the hospital.
I was anxious and afraid, but the Israeli nurses and doctors treated me with sensitivity and respect, and the delivery went well.
“I am very happy that I came here, they are treating me nicely and taking care of me and my new baby.”
Esther Ambar, the nurse in charge of Ziv’s neonatal department, has been taking care of the Syrian baby following her birth. Ambar, who lives on Kibbutz Ein Zivan on the Golan Heights, which a few days earlier was hit by rockets from Syria, remarked on the complexity of the situation: “We live in a strange reality. On Sunday, we ran to our bomb shelters at 1:30 a.m. when we heard the siren, and a number of rockets hit the ground close to the kibbutz; yesterday, a number of mortar bombs were fired on this area; and today, we delivered a Syrian baby whose mother arrived from the region from which we were fired upon.
“We hear and see the fighting in Syria daily, and we know that the population there is in great difficulty,” she noted. “We have already treated a number of mothers and babies from Syria, and we do so with devotion and love. Ordinary people are not interested in wars; the Syrian mothers who reach us tell stories of the difficulties they experience in their country and speak about their hope for peace and a better future for their children. Their gratitude is moving and our wish is this will be a bridge to a dialogue between us and them, and a hope for peace and quiet in the region.”
This marks the seventh birth of a Syrian baby at Ziv Medical Center; Syrian casualties continue to be brought by the IDF for treatment.
New ‘relaxation corner’ dedicated to elite Golani soldiers
Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund and the Golani Brigades Association has dedicated a “relaxation area” at the entrance to the training base used to train elite units of the division, next to Kibbutz Ayelet Hashahar.
“This is our way to say thank you for the courage and determination that you showed during Operation Protective Edge,” KKL-JNF chairman Efi Stenzler said at the inauguration of the area, which includes an orchard, a barbecuing area, benches overlooking the Upper Galilee, and the Biriya, Ramot and Naftali forests.
Ceremony participants planted trees in the seating area and around the base, and the Netafim company donated an automatic irrigation system. KKL-JNF has established dozens of relaxation areas of this kind at army bases around the country, for the enjoyment of soldiers and their families.
Huge reservoir discovered at Beit She’arim National Park
Archeologists discovered a massive, unique underground reservoir during cave excavations which began in January at Beit She’arim National Park, just east of the Carmel Mountains and near the site’s Menorah Caves. The Israel Nature and Parks Authority (INPA) announced the discovery on Sunday.
Known as the “cache cave” under the British Mandate, the Hagana used it as a secret weapons warehouse. There was a concrete floor at the bottom of the cache, four meters above the original floor of the reservoir; the reservoir was capable of storing some 1,300 cubic meters of water and contains staircases that allowed for the two-way movement of water carriers, likely used in the first few centuries CE.
The excavations were conducted by INPA in cooperation with the Antiquities Authority, with the assistance of the heritage division of the Prime Minister’s Office. INPA archeologist Dr. Zvika Tzuk described the discovery as an important finding that sheds light on Beit She’arim during the Second Temple era.
CENTER
200 tablets distributed to Bat Yam first-grade teachers
Bat Yam teachers last week received new tablets in a festive ceremony attended by Acting Mayor Yossi Bachar and Mifal Hapayis CEO Eli Dadon. According to the Local website, 200 tablets were distributed to first grade teachers, who will for the first time begin using tablets for teaching.
Mifal Hapayis supports the tablets project, begun in Bat Yam’s education system three years ago. The company fully funds the tablets, helps subsidize other tablets purchased by pupils and provides assistance and resources in turning all city classrooms into “smart classrooms.”
During the ceremony, Bachar thanked the company for its contribution to the project. “Mifal Hapayis has a leading role in advancing our goals. Their support in the last three years has and still enables us to advance our education vision in Bat Yam, and to turn it into one of the leading cities in education in Israel.”
Police detain man on suspicion of sexual harassment
Police in Rishon Lezion arrested a man suspected of sexually harassing female bathers at the beach last weekend, the Local website reported. Coastal inspectors reported the man to police, and a complainant filed a report that the man had harassed her in the sea. She said she ran away from him and with the help of her husband and an inspector, followed him and pointed him out to police.
The suspect was taken in for questioning.
SOUTH
BGU launches Israel-China collaboration in health emergency management
Beersheba’s Ben-Gurion University of the Negev on Monday kicked off a new collaboration between Israel and China in health emergency management, with the launch of a workshop on emergency preparedness and response for senior officials from Shanghai. The workshop’s stated goals are to promote the policy initiated by the Israeli government to enhance relations between the two countries, in accordance with the belief that global disaster management can be best attained through collaboration and cooperation between all countries.
BGU’s PREPARED Center for Emergency Response Research has, in the last few years, specialized in creating and disseminating knowledge and research in the field of disaster management; it has been recognized as a center of excellence in this field, both locally and globally.
Between August 31 and September 19, 20 professionals from the Office for Health Emergency Management of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Health and Family Planning, led by the office’s director, were set to participate in a workshop designed by BGU’s faculty of health sciences’ department of emergency medicine, in collaboration with MASHAV and the Health and Foreign ministries. Throughout the three-week course, participants will learn about disaster management, with lectures by leading Israeli professionals, and visit various agencies, including first responders such as Magen David Adom, hospitals and the Home Front Command.
This is the first of several such workshops planned for Chinese officials at BGU in the coming years.