Boca Raton's Emma Tabakin's Internship at Hadassah Hospital

Instead of spending her summer vacation working at a beach resort, Emma Tabakin, 21, disinfected hospital equipment and provided patients with towels. She loved every minute of it.

For two months, Tabakin left her family in Boca Raton, Florida to work in Hadassah’s Bone Marrow Transplant Department. “At Hadassah I learned that the smallest deed could mean the world to someone,” said Tabakin. “A smile first thing in the morning can brighten a patient’s entire day. I know that during my time volunteering in the hospital I made a difference in the patients’ lives.”

“I had no idea how much value a volunteer could bring to the department,” said Yevgeny Frank-Kamentzky, Head Nurse at Hadassah’s Bone Marrow Transplant department. “In her quiet and understated way, Emma taught me how to use volunteers to improve patient care.”

“Yevgeny is the only person to call me ‘Emushka,’” Tabakin said. “He makes every patient and staff member feel comfortable. You would expect the patients to be miserable because of how sick they are, but they are so appreciative of our work.”

Tabakin was born in Queens and moved to Boca Raton with her parents and two older brothers before beginning high school at Weinbaum Yeshiva. Before her senior year at the University of Maryland, Tabakin joined an Onward Israel program to discover the medical world in Israel by volunteering at Hadassah. She plans to train as a Physician’s Assistant after completing her BSc next year.

During her time at Hadassah, Tabakin was touched by the lives of patients in the BMT Department. “One young patient gives me a high five every time she passes me scooting on her I.V. pole down the hallway. Another patient doesn’t speak English or Hebrew, but he offers me a soda every time I enter his room. Through pointing and gestures, we communicate, and he knows that I care about him. A different patient keeps telling me that she will take me on a vacation to Eilat once her bone marrow transplant is successful,” recalls Tabakin.

Tabakin’s time at Hadassah has made a lasting impression on her plans for the future. “When I envision myself as a Physician’s Assistant, I see myself providing the kind of care I saw at Hadassah,” she said. “I want to give medical treatment while also listening to my patients and giving them emotional support.”

Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America, Inc. (HWZOA) is the largest Jewish women’s organization in the United States. With 300,000 members, associates and supporters Hadassah brings Jewish women together to effect change and advocate on critical issues such as medical care and research and women's empowerment. Through the Hadassah Medical Organization's two hospitals, the world-renowned trauma center and the leading research facility in Jerusalem, Hadassah supports the delivery of exemplary patient care to over a million people every year. HMO serves without regard to race, religion or nationality and earned a Nobel Peace Prize Nomination in 2005 for building “bridges to peace” through equality in medical treatment. For more information, visit www.hadassah.org.