In a powerful example of the Hadassah Medical Organization’s (HMO’s) potential for collaboration with countries around the world, a team of HMO cystic fibrosis (CF) specialists recently returned from Krakow, Poland, where they led an intensive two-day training for Ukrainian CF professionals.
The Hadassah delegation was headed by Prof. Malena Cohen Cymberknoh, head of HMO’s Pediatric Pulmonology Unit and director of its Center for Cystic Fibrosis. They worked with teams who travelled to Krakow from eight CF centers across Ukraine, offering an opportunity for hands-on learning, clinical consultation, and solidarity.
The meeting was part of the European Cystic Fibrosis Society’s (ECFS) Twinning Expansion Project, which pairs well-established CF centers with those in resource-limited regions. Hadassah serves as a mentor to centers in Zaporizhia and Odessa, helping to elevate standards of care, despite the challenges aggravated by the ongoing war in Ukraine.
With the help of translators and local partners, the Krakow gathering featured over 20 workshops and presentations, covering topics such as physiotherapy, lung disease management, nutrition, and gastroenterological issues.
“Our goal is to raise standards everywhere,” says Prof. Cohen-Cymberknoh. “A CF patient in Ukraine or in some parts of South America deserves the same chance to live a long, comfortable life as a patient here in Jerusalem.”
“This philosophy is fundamental to our worldview,” says Jorge Diener, Executive Director of Hadassah International, the Hadassah movement’s global arm. “Because medicine deals with humanity at its most elemental, it emphasizes the commonalities between people and fosters relationships that might otherwise never flourish.”
As part of its mission, HI helps facilitate such collaborations around the world. In February 2022, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, HI spearheaded a 2022 Hadassah relief mission to the Ukrainian/Polish border, where it provided critical medical services to refugees fleeing the war.
Today, Cohen-Cymberknoh leads Hadassah’s CF Center with a vision that blends clinical excellence with an eye for global outreach. She will shortly travel to Paraguay to bring Hadassah’s Israeli expertise and spirit of goodwill with the South American nation. Building on previous successes, beginning in 2010 with Uruguay and later expanding to other countries, similar collaborative projects are now being launched across South America.
The Krakow initiative was made possible through the support of numerous organizations, including the ECFS, CF Europe, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, and national CF associations from Slovakia, Poland, and Ukraine, with special thanks to Katarina Stepankova, Twinning Project Ambassador, whose enthusiasm helped bring the event to life.
“We were welcomed so warmly in Poland, and I am immensely proud of the knowledge, experience and values that we bring with us,” Prof. Cohen-Cymberknoh reflects. “That’s true particularly of our ability to contribute, to teach and to assist countries that are struggling with challenges and distress, like Ukraine.”
That’s another bridge to peace.
