By Joshua Rosenstein, Assistant Editor, JTNews
Dr. Ron Schneeweiss of the University of Washington’s Family Medicine department has some visionary ideas. Schneeweiss is the immediate past chair of his department and has worked there for 27 years. Before coming to the UW, he spent 10 years working as a doctor in Israel.
Though originally from South Africa, Schneeweiss served as a paratroop physician in the Israeli Army of Defense and took part as such in several of Israel’s wars. Having worked in both the Israeli and American health care systems, Schneeweiss is aware of both system’s faults. He says that the millions of Americans without health insurance and the high cost of care are weak points in the American system. The Israeli medical system on the other hand, a socialized system, has its own problems. While all Israeli citizens have access to health care, the system leaves little room for research or academics. Most doctors in Israel are just too busy to take the time or interest in teaching or research.
With his close friend Amnon Lahad, who is currently chair of family medicine at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Schneeweiss began to think of ways to improve the Israeli system. With access to the substantial body of resources at the UW, he thought they could bolster the research and teaching aspects of the Israeli medical world.
They eventually came up with the idea of bringing young academically oriented doctors from Israel to the UW for one year. During that year, the doctors would take the coursework for a Master’s in Public Health degree, a degree that cultivates research skills. While studying, the fellows have the opportunity to develop their teaching interests as well. The fellowship covers relocation costs, tuition at UW and a stipend to live on, thereby giving the fellows the time and resources to develop curriculum materials.
Although the fellows cannot complete the degree in one year, the idea is for them to continue it back in Israel after their fellowship ends. The goal is to create a whole cadre of future leaders in the fields of research and teaching.
When looking for funders, Schneeweiss found a private donor, a local philanthropic couple who wish to remain nameless. The couple agreed to fund the program for two years and then re-assess. The final goal was to run it for five years, bringing two fellows per year and resulting in 10 Israeli doctors who would return to Israel and serve as future leaders of their field. The anonymous donors, who have given administration duties to the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle, decided last month to continue the program and the next two fellows have already been selected.
Current fellows Dr. Ruth Kannai and Dr. Gili Ofer-Bialer are midway through their year. Dr. Kannai works at a rural clinic near Beit Shemesh in Israel. When she returns to Israel this summer, Kannai plans to implement her new course in Bioethics, which she is developing during her fellowship. She says that she has much to learn from the American medical system.
She notes that the American system teaches doctors to respect the patient, as well as their trans-cultural beliefs. In Israel, she says, the emphasis is much more on biological and technological advances. But it is the values of family medicine that the fellowship promotes, which speaks to the current crisis in the Israeli medical system. Kannai explains that when the health care system is paid for by the government—and therefore the public—the economic factor is unavoidable.
“Right now we are struggling with having to make medical decisions while taking into account economic considerations,” said Kannai. “We have to walk between the raindrops, be our patients’ advocates while acting in such a way that the system doesn’t crash.”
The values of family practice can play a vital role in this crisis.
“If your patient has a headache, it only takes a moment to send them off to have an MRI, but over the course of three or four visits, a family physician can become aware of the psycho-social situation and the patients standing in their community and family,” she said.
With the exorbitant costs of medical treatments such as an MRI, having a family physician that is involved with her patients and aware of their general situations can save the system untold amounts in needlessly spent dollars.
Kannai identifies strongly as a family physician. “I feel like the doctor on the horse, riding out to the villages,” she said.
But she is also a member of the faculty at the Hadassah Hospital family practice department in Jerusalem Upon her return to Israel, she will bring back with her a whole host of new ideas and values education that just might impact the Israeli medical system in positive ways.
Dr. Gili Ofer-Bialer is from Nes Tsiona, and practices family medicine at her clinic in Rishon L’tzion. She teaches family medicine at the Tel Aviv School of Medicine. “Although I teach a lot in Israel, there is no formal framework built into the Israeli system for faculty development. This opportunity allows me to develop my teaching skills as well as focusing on research,” she said.
Dr. Ofer-Bialer’s special area is palliative care, which seeks to alleviate suffering and improve quality of life for terminally ill patients.
“In medical school, the emphasis of course is on how to cure patients, so there is a lack of preparation for how to care for patients who are not going to get better,” she said. “My aim is to bring the methodology and the attitude that I am developing here back to Israel.
“I have learned more this year then I have since I was born,” Kannai said. “This fellowship provides such a generous opportunity to us. In Israel, we don’t have time to breathe, and here we really have the opportunity to broaden our horizons.”
She says she has enjoyed living in Northend Seattle’s Jewish community and is grateful to the anonymous donor who makes the fellowship possible. She also had kind words for Schneeweiss, for making the fellowship happen.
“Ron is a benefit to Israel, the Jewish people and family medicine,” she said, sentiments that Ofer-Bialer echoed.