Grapevine: A pioneer in her field

A state of emergency becomes a great equalizer; an Arab female surgeon works at Rambam; the Diplomatic Wives Clubs visits Reuth Medical Center.

By GREER FAY CASHMAN
lena peretz lavie 311 (photo credit: Yoav Bachar)
lena peretz lavie 311
(photo credit: Yoav Bachar)
■ THERE ARE many senior Arab surgeons in Israeli hospitals, but until recently there was no female plastic surgeon from the Arab community.
Now there is. Dr. Rania Hativ is working at Rambam Medical Center.
She is hopeful that her presence will encourage more female patients from her sector to seek the medical care they need. Equally important, more Arab women who have chosen to make medicine their profession, may follow Hativ’s example and opt for plastic surgery.
■ A STATE of emergency becomes a great equalizer. Among the people evacuated from their homes in Haifa’s Danya neighborhood last week were Technion President Peretz Lavie, high tech guru and former Elbit chairman Uzia Galil and Honorary Consul of Brazil Moshe Davids.
■ ISRAEL’S DIPLOMATIC community is so busy hosting important guests and arranging receptions in their honor that heads of foreign missions are finding it increasingly difficult to attend each other’s national day or other important events. Australian Ambassador Andrea Faulkner was in no position to accept invitations on Tuesday night, because together with Paul Israel, executive director of the Israel-Australia Chamber of Commerce, she was hosting a reception at the Australian residence in Herzliya Pituah in honor of the Chamber’s Australia-Israel Bright Minds delegation, led by the Hon. Bob Carr, former Premier of New South Wales, the Australian State of which Sydney is the capital. Carr, who was in office for slightly more than 10 years, was the longest serving premier in the history of New South Wales. The delegation included academics, high profile journalists, leading business people and representatives of the arts, who met with Israeli counterparts and exchanged ideas.
■ ON THE same evening, just a short distance away, the Counselor for Press and Cultural Affairs at the US Embassy Hilary Olsen-Windecker together with her husband hosted a Hanukka reception for members of the media.
■ POLISH AMBASSADOR Agnieszka Magdziak-Miszewsjka hosted a Hanukka celebration at the Polish residence in Kfar Shmaryahu on Monday. It’s not the first time that the Polish ambassador has had guests on Hanukka, and she didn’t have to go to any special trouble to get the doughnuts. The type eaten in Israel actually originate in Poland where they are called Paczki (pronounced pounchki). As for a hanukkia, she’s got more than one, and they are permanently on view.
■ SWISS AMBASSADOR Walter Haffner had been scheduled to host a reception at his residence in Ramat Gan to mark the launch of Easyjet’s Basel-Tel Aviv flights, but decided that it was inappropriate to have a celebration at a time when the country was still mourning the deaths of those who perished in the Mount Carmel inferno.
■ MEMBERS OF the Diplomatic Wives Club visited Reuth Medical Center in Tel Aviv where they were introduced to the unique programming and quality-of-life therapies provided there as they witnessed Garden Therapy and Animal Therapy. The women, from the US, Canada, Brazil, Ireland, Germany, the Ivory Coast, Kenya, China and elsewhere met with Reuth patients and staff including Merav Mandelbaum, chairperson of the board; Miriam Frankel, deputy director; and Prof. Avi Ohry, director of rehabilitation. Diplomatic Wives President Ana Sovic, who hails from Slovenia, and Leslie Cunningham, wife of the US ambassador, together with their colleagues, were able to see the professional care that patients receive in the Weingarten Children’s Department and the Physical Therapy department. A number of the women were so touched and impressed they decided to come back and volunteer at the hospital.