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Friends of Ziv Medical Center are pleased to announce that Dr. Rafael Gottenger, the vice president of the Venezuelan American Medical Association and Dr. Salman Zarka, the Israeli-Druze director of Israel’s northernmost hospital, will be the recipients of the inaugural “Life and Hope Awards for Humanitarian Medical Service.”
Dr. Gottenger, who has participated in over 40 missions of “Operation Smile,” was recently part of 14 Venezuelan doctors medical contingent on the USNS Comfort, a US navy hospital, treating hundreds of Venezuelans off the coast of Colombia.
Dr. Salman Zarka, Colonel (Res.), 25 year veteran of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), was one of the architects of Israel’s humanitarian extensive help to the civilian population of war torn Syria. Thousands of Syrian women, children and elderly arrived at Syria’s border with Israel and have received medical attention at Dr. Zarka’s Ziv hospital, in the city of Safed, in the Galilee.
The Life and Hope Awards, to take place on March 21st, 2019, at the Fontainebleau Hotel, Miami Beach, Florida, will also recognize “Brazil a Sheltering Heart,” a project of “Fraternidade Sem Fronteiras,” to assist the thousands of Venezuelans seeking food and medical assistance in Brazil.
Read more about the event here: https://www.friendsofziv.org/event/
“Ziv for Venezuelan Refugees,” a campaign run by Friends of Ziv Medical Center – the US not for profit organization behind these awards – is preparing to sponsor a team from Israel’s northernmost hospital in support of Brazil’s northernmost hospital who will travel to Brazil bringing along medicines and vaccines.
Three million Venezuelans have been forced to leave their country, a figure that it is estimated to increase by another two million by the end of this 2019 year. Many of them, traveling on foot, are crossing the borders with Brazil and Colombia.
The world is witnessing the worst humanitarian crisis in Latin America’s modern history and the most massive forced displacements in the Western Hemisphere. This has been described as the largest exodus in recent Latin American history.
“We, Jews, understand about exodus,” said Rabbi Moshe Pitchon, the President of Friends of Ziv Medical Center, the US charity that has been supporting the Safed Ziv hospital, in providing life-saving treatment to Syrian civilians and now preparing to support hospitals in Brazil and Colombia helping Venezuelan refugees.
Members of assorted diplomatic delegations in the US, government officials, the medical community, businesses, and civic and religious organizations are being invited to express their gratitude and support to the men and women providing selfless medical attention to refugees.
In their effort to enlarge support and create awareness, the Life and Hope Awards have been already joined by organizations such as “Alpha Omega,” the oldest international dental fraternity. Rabbi Pitchon hopes that many other organizations and businesses will join at the Gala that will be entertained by choirs, therapeutic clowns and some of the most well-known names in the entertainment business.
Connect with: https://www.friendsofziv.org/ziv-for-venezuela/ | https://www.friendsofziv.org/event/
Release ID: 484990