Boise State Senior Aisha Kayed's Summer Internship at Hadassah

Instead of spending the summer visiting her extended family in Jerusalem, Aisha Kayed, 22, from Boise Idaho spent two months of her summer vacation at Hadassah Mount Scopus translating for patients, restocking medical supplies, and feeding patients at mealtimes.

Kayed's father grew up in the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Shuafat. He met her mother while traveling in Brazil and together they moved to Boise, Idaho where Aisha and her two younger brothers were born and raised.

Every summer since high school, Kayed has come to Israel to visit her grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins in Jerusalem. This summer, she wanted to advance her pre-med studies and decided to volunteer in the Internal Medicine Department at Hadassah. "I met all sorts of people here,” she said. “In Idaho, I had never seen so much diversity!”

Kayed was impressed to see how the hospital promotes a culture of respect and coexistence. "Hadassah is a real example of what peace should look like," said Kayed. "Every day I see patient rooms shared by Jews and Arabs and they are laughing and talking. They may have had a negative image of the 'other' before coming to Hadassah, but that quickly changes in the hospital."

Before volunteering at Hadassah, this college senior at Boise State University planned to become a gynaecologist. "This summer really opened my eyes to other types of medicine. I saw the interesting work the doctors do here and now I hope to specialize in internal medicine," she said. "Maybe I'll even do a physician exchange program to Hadassah in the future."

There were surprises, too. "One woman came up to me and said I look familiar. When I told her my last name she immediately remembered my father as a young boy – even though he left Jerusalem thirty years ago!" said Kayed.

“Volunteering at Hadassah has been a life-changing experience and one of the best things I have ever done in my life,” said Kayed. “There are no politics inside this hospital. Whether you speak English, Hebrew, or Arabic, there is a place for you at Hadassah.”

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.