If you ask Gilat Yihye, until recently the Head Nurse of the ICU at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, about her greatest achievement as a nurse, her answer will take you far from Israel. 

She was “on vacation” from Hadassah Hospital, volunteering to work with “orphans with HIV/AIDS  in Ethiopia,” she says, referring to the Hadassah Medical Organization’s ART-Joy-Love project, an extraordinarily successful program spearheaded by HMO’s Dr. Dan Engelhard. It was there, she says, that she “created a clinic, served as the liaison with the local hospital, and — my greatest achievement — taught the local nurses.”

This summer, Nurse Yihye was on an altogether different kind of trip, traveling around the United States, sharing HMO stories with Hadassah chapters, including in Chicago, Detroit and Minneapolis. “Gilat is a Hadassah superstar,” says Rick Kruger, Hadassah’s Midwest Development Director. “She tugged at the attendees’ heartstrings.” Her passion for saving lives is infectious.

In Israel, she’s proud to have helped establish HMO’s Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Center with Prof. Raphael Breuer — the first of its kind in Israel. “I had the privilege of running it for two years,” she says. “In addition I was a pulmonary transplant coordinator.” 

She was in this role when Jessa Perrin, then 16, came to Israel on a Birthright Israel summer trip and suddenly suffered from liver failure. “We set up an intensive care unit in a part of the cabin,” she says. “Then we took her back to USA for transplantation.” This summer, Jessa – now a healthy journalism student — returned to the hospital to thank the staff.

More recently, Nurse Yihye helped “open a new pre-op center,” the first of its kind in Israel.

In each of these many roles, Nurse Yihye has made a huge impact. We wish Nurse Yihye, who recently moved to Denver, great success, and look forward to her sharing more Hadassah stories of hope and healing.

This year, as the Henrietta Szold Hadassah-Hebrew University Nursing School celebrates its centennial, we need look no farther than Nurse Yihye – a graduate herself — to see the impact Hadassah nurses are making today and every day around the world.

Learn more about our amazing Hadassah nurses. And keep up with new developments — follow the Hadassah National Nurses Council on Facebook.