nadine, Author at The Jerusalem Intercultural Center

Spotlighting Santé Israel’s Community Resilience Work

Santé Israel, which was founded by JICC in 2015, assists French speakers to navigate the Israeli healthcare system. With about 30,000 French speakers in Israel, and many more from French speaking countries, Santé receives approximately 1,500 calls for assistance each year. In recent years the project has partnered with Qualita, a local organization that aims to aid French immigrants to Israel.

During Shavuot, Santé Israel – together with the Director of the Jerusalem Municipality and Qualita’s Office for French-Speaking Immigrants’ Rights Realization, Ayala Blum – hosted a brunch for our dedicated teams of volunteers. Attendees enjoyed bread, a cheese tart, and homemade couscous, among other treats! The group learned about the various challenges facing French speakers, such as taxes, health rights, elderly rights, and social security benefits.

This was an opportunity for Santé Israel to expand its community reach in making the Israeli healthcare system more accessible to French-speaking immigrants.

Many thanks to the Pharmadom Foundation for their continued support of Santé Israël over the years.

nadine2022-08-02T08:41:01+00:00August 2nd, 2022|Blog, Santé Israël - French internet platform on the Israeli healthcare system|

Protecting Religious Diversity on Mount Zion

In mid-June, we gathered for our annual summer meeting of representatives from leading organizations on Mount Zion, which includes resident Mount Zion institutions, ranging from religious leaders and stakeholders, including municipal and government officials. The meeting was convened in the context of Window to Mount Zion, a project created and led by JICC in 2015 to promote understanding and collaboration among relevant stakeholders on Mount Zion, in the hope of easing religious tension.

The forum’s diversity reflects its vital importance, enabling all parties to communicate and promote shared interests regarding life on Mount Zion. This year, we were honored to host the St. Savior Armenian Church and Monastery, Dormition Abbey, and Monastery of St. Francis Ad Coenaculum, along with rabbis from the Diaspora Yeshiva and Sephardic Synagogue. Further important stakeholders attended from King David’s Tomb, the Harp of David, Greek Garden, Jerusalem University College, and Dajani family, along with senior police officials responsible for securing Mount Zion.

During the meeting, all participants shared their desire and commitment to further and develop collaboration between all parties, not only for the sake of Mount Zion, but also as an inspirational model for fruitful shared life in this historically complex environment.

The forum expressed deep appreciation to Merav Horowitz-Stein for her dedicated work since 2015, and welcomed Tami Lavie Nissim, the new project manager.

This was a particularly special annual reunion as we reflected on the milestones in our work thus far, and embarked on a hopeful new chapter with renewed energy and leadership.

nadine2022-07-24T10:20:52+00:00June 20th, 2022|Blog, Mount Zion|

Important Health Updates from Santé Israel and our partners at Qualita

During May 2022 Santé Israel, together with the Jerusalem Municipality and Qualita, held an informative conversation regarding dependency insurance, travel restrictions and masks mandate on international flights, and medical translations. The conversation was between Ayala Blum (Director of the Jerusalem Municipality and Qualita’s Office for French-Speaking Immigrants’ Rights Realization), Marie Avigad from Santé Israel, and moderated by independent journalist, Cathy Choukroun (of Studio Qualita).

To learn more about Santé Israel’s offerings ranging from translating the Israeli health system into French and offering a public hotline to guide and refer French-speakers to relevant services, see the following links (in French):

https://www.sante.org.il/couvertures-des-caisses/

https://www.sante.org.il/coronavirus-voyages-en-avion/#vers

https://www.sante.org.il/preparer-sa-visite-chez-le-medecin/

Many thanks to the Pharmadom Foundation for their continued support of Santé Israël over the years.

nadine2022-08-02T08:46:24+00:00May 22nd, 2022|Blog, Santé Israël - French internet platform on the Israeli healthcare system|

InterFaith Tour Visiting the JICC in Jerusalem

The InterFaith Tour program – a world tour of interfaith initiatives – arrived in Israel in April 2022 after a tour in Brazil, Mexico, USA, South Africa, Mauritius, Uganda and Rwanda. As part of their field study, they were interested in learning about JICC’s efforts to reduce Urban Inequality and Cultural Competency in our diverse City of Jerusalem.

Daniel Hasson and Nadine Kamar interviewed as part of “InterFaith Tour” program

Wishing Floriane, Marie, Maud, and Radia the best of luck in their InterFaith Tour around the world!

nadine2022-04-26T09:21:56+00:00April 14th, 2022|Blog|

MiniActive – Empowering Women As Independent Business Women

MiniActive in cooperation with Maof – Business Advancement Network in East Jerusalem – held a meeting on February 23 2022, attended by over 50 women. The workshop sought to empower the participants on their path as successful and independent business women. It offered training and success stories that inspired and encouraged the women to become entrepreneurs.

This first meeting was facilitated by Alaa Abu Lail, Director of Business Accompaniment, and Razan Abdeen, Coordinator of Marketing and Courses.

Here’s the post (in Arabic) about the first meeting from MiniActive’s Facebook page:

The second meeting was on March 23, 2022, the workshop dealt with the pressures of life, tasks, and responsibilities women face daily, whether they are housewives, entrepreneurs, or business owners. MiniActive’s women received tools for time and stress management that will also help them raise their self-esteem.

Here’s the post (in Arabic) about the second meeting from MiniActive’s Facebook page:

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation and Natan for their ongoing support of MiniActive!

nadine2022-04-11T09:07:55+00:00March 23rd, 2022|Blog, Effective Activism, MiniActive|

Santé Israël – Continuing Awareness-Raising on Health Rights After Covid-19

Santé Israël has finally returned to face-to-face information evenings after a long period of COVID-19 gathering restrictions. Alya de Groupe – an organization that accompanies French citizens in their Aliyah process, coordinates a visit to Israel, and plans lectures for them on various subjects – invited Marie Avigad, director of Santé Israël, to give a lecture on the Israeli health system.

On March 7, 2022, Marie Avigad explained to a group of about 50 people at Qualita offices in Jerusalem, about the health system in Israel. Her workshop focused on common challenges faced by new immigrants, the similarities and differences from the French health system, how to navigate the system and fully access health rights. Marie also referred them to the Santé Israël website, where more information can be found in French.

Raising awareness about health care rights

The participants showed great interest in the lecture, which lasted more than an hour and a half as a result of the numerous questions they had. The questions were mainly about choosing their HMO, supplementary health insurance, nursing insurance, emergency medical centers, and more. They were very pleased to receive critical information and answers, and learn about Santé Israël website along with the fact that Marie is available to assist with any questions that they may have in the future.

Many thanks to the Pharmadom Foundation for their continued support of Santé Israël over the years.

nadine2022-04-11T09:00:21+00:00March 7th, 2022|Blog, Cultural Competence, Santé Israël - French internet platform on the Israeli healthcare system|

MiniActive – Learning About Health Rights

Mini Active arranged a health rights zoom workshop for 60 Palestinian women on February 21, 2022. Rula Abu Ziad from “Indicate” was invited to raise the women’s awareness on how to best access their health rights and how to make their interactions with health maintenance organizations (HMOs) such as, Clalit Health Services, more effective.

Here’s the post (in Arabic) from MiniActive’s Facebook page:

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation and Natan for their ongoing support of MiniActive!

nadine2022-04-11T09:03:11+00:00February 21st, 2022|Blog, Effective Activism, MiniActive|

nadine

About nadine

Daniel Hasson and Nadine Kamar interviewed as part of “InterFaith Tour” program

Raising awareness about health care rights