Our national convention begins in just a few short weeks. The biannual gathering provides an ideal opportunity to catch up with old Hadassah friends, hear the latest news about the situation with the Hadassah Medical Organization and celebrate some of Israel’s greatest heroes: members of the Israel Defense Forces Special First Responders Unit, recipients of this year’s Henrietta Szold Award.

Every Beat Counts: Hadassah’s Heart Health Initiative to encourage women to learn their risk factors for cardiac disease, is one of our most vital and popular campaigns, with heart health events taking place across the country. Earlier this year, at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, Hadassah sponsored a session that emphasized women’s heart health.

That United Nations session was the latest example of our 100-plus year history of bringing health and wellness to everyone, without regard to religion, race or ethnicity.

 

Snap Yourself Reading the Magazine
You may have seen our recent ad for the Hadassah Magazine Circle, the fundraising effort for the magazine you know and love. Well, what we would love to see in our next ad is you—specifically, you with your copy of Hadassah Magazine. Are you taking your copy on your trip to Israel? Does Hadassah Magazine accompany you on exotic vacations or family get-togethers? Please send photos of yourself with your magazine to magazine@hadassah.org, and we may feature them in future ads. Part of what makes this magazine so special is you, our dedicated readers, and we want to see your dedication in our next ad.

 

And the Henrietta Szold Award Goes to….
A high point of every Hadassah convention is the ceremony honoring recipients of the Henrietta Szold Award, our organization’s top prize. At this year’s convention, held at The Palazzo Resort Hotel Casino in Las Vegas from July 21 to 23, we will be giving the award to the Israel Defense Forces Special First Responders Unit. Accepting on their behalf will be two distinguished unit members—and Hadassah physicians—Dr. Avi Rivkind and Dr. Dan Engelhard.

Dr. Rivkind heads the general surgery department at Hadassah Hospital as well as the trauma unit; Dr. Engelhard is the senior physician in the Department of Pediatrics.

 

Nurses on a Mission
When is a trip to Israel more than a vacation? When it is organized by Hadassah’s National Center for Nurses Councils in collaboration with Hadassah’s Physicians Council.

The November 2 to 6 mission, From Concept to Cure: A Second Century of Healing, will take participants through the cutting-edge world of nursing today. The agenda includes meeting with nurses at Hadassah’s hospitals; students and faculty at the clinical masters program at the Hadassah–Hebrew University School of Nursing; and learning opportunities with world-renowned physicians and nurses. Participants will see the new Sarah Wetsman Davidson Hospital Tower, the Linda Joy Pollin Cardiovascular Wellness Institute and the sights of Jerusalem. Contact Da’at travel expeditions for more information (888-811-2812; www.daattravel.com).

 

Meet the Veep: Carol Rosenthal
When Carol Rosenthal’s third grandchild, Bennett, was born, one of the first things his mother, Deborah, asked her mother was if she was going to make Bennett an Associate. “I already have,” was the reply. Rosenthal’s Hadassah journey started as a child in Fort Worth, Texas, a city that proudly boasts generations of Hadassah leaders: Many are Rosenthal’s cousins.

After marrying Stephen Rosenthal, the couple settled in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, a city of 65 Jewish families and one synagogue. In Sioux Falls, Rosenthal became a life member of Hadassah, which offered her a meaningful connection to the Jewish world. The path to Hadassah leadership usually begins locally, proceeds to the region/big chapter and then to the national level. But Rosenthal took what she describes as a backward path. Her first Hadassah meeting was one that she shared with her mother, Bernice Luskey (the pair appear in the photo at right), and 2,000 other delegates at the 1982 National Convention in Jerusalem. Many years later, with the urging of friends and family, she became president of the Upper Midwest Region.

Carol and Stephen Rosenthal learned from their parents to care about Israel and the Jewish people, live by Jewish values and give back to the community. This is a legacy that continues with their children, David and Deborah. In 2005, the entire Rosenthal family went to Israel. A tour of Hadassah Hospital at Ein Kerem led them to a donor wall where Luskey’s name was inscribed. It was here that Rosenthal surprised her daughter-in-law, Tina, with a gift of life membership.

Today, Rosenthal is a member of the National Executive Committee and is the National Membership Chair. The Rosenthals are generous Centennial Founders and Keepers of the Gate. —Sandra King

 

Hadassah’s Heart Health Program Goes International
While 6,000 delegates from some of the world’s most prominent nongovernmental organizations gathered in New York at the United Nations for the Commission on the Status of Women on March 11, Hadassah’s United Nations team presented a parallel session entitled “A Healthy Woman Is an Empowered Woman.”

Garnering several dozen attendees from an extremely crowded field of events, the program presented compelling information about women’s health—especially heart health—and gave people the tools to spread this message across the globe.

Speakers included Dr. Padmini Murthy, Dr. Josephine Ojiambo and Ellen Hershkin, coordinator of the PRAZE (Programming, Advocacy, Zionism and Education) division at Hadassah. Dr. Murthy is assistant professor of health policy and management as well as family and community medicine and the global health director at New York Medical College. Dr. Ojiambo is former permanent representative of Kenya to the United Nations, chief of the executive board and external relations branch at the United Nations Population Fund and a graduate of the Hebrew University–Hadassah Braun School of Public Health and Community Medicine as well as a life member of Hadassah.

Both physicians connected heart health to the ability to raise a family and to earn a livelihood, making special mention of the gender disparity in heart health research. They warned that genetics, hormones and lifestyle mix together to produce our health, urging listeners to be mindful of nutrition and exercise while also keeping track of family histories of heart disease.

Dr. Murthy said that heart disease—including vascular problems and high blood pressure—is on the rise everywhere, not just in developed nations. She gave attendees tools for recognizing a heart attack, praising the information cards developed for the Every Beat Counts program. Dr. Ojiambo stressed proper nutrition and fitness as weapons against heart disease, while also speaking very highly of Hadassah and its outstanding medical achievements. Hershkin gave the attendees tools they can use to partner with Hadassah units and bring Every Beat Counts (www.hadassah.org/everybeatcounts) to their communities. She distributed programmatic materials that draw on Hadassah’s fruitful relationship with Sister to Sister: The Women’s Heart Health Foundation.