A Well Deserved Honor

Eli Ben Zikri

In a beautiful ceremony honoring volunteers in Petah Tikvah, the city which is home to Rabin Medical Center, a special award of thanks was presented by Itzhak Ohana, the mayor of Petah Tikvah, to two volunteers from the hospital.

The honor was given to Eli Ben Zikri for his important services to cancer patients and Dalia Weiler for her remarkable contribution to volunteerism at the hospital.

In 2007, Eli, a cancer survivor and hairstylist, established the fist beauty salon which would provide wigs to cancer patients free of charge at Rabin Medical Center's Davidoff Center. A chance encounter while waiting for a round of chemotherapy several years earlier led to this venture and changed Eli's life forever. Here he met a fellow patient, a woman who told him she'd rather die than lose her hair. Shocked at her declaration he gave her a solution which would help her self esteem until her hair grew back. Since then, Ben Zikri has fitted wigs for thousands of women, men and children who are undergoing cancer treatments.

Dalia began her volunteer activities at the hospital 43 years ago and for the past 19 years has been in charge of all the volunteers, coordinating and managing their activities in the different departments of the hospital. Rabin Medical Center has more that 400 volunteers who provide an important service to both the staff and patients at the hospital.

Sitting proudly in the audience was Dr. Eyran Halpern, CEO of the hospital and Dr. Boaz Tadmor, the Associate Director of Rabin Medical Center along with many of the hospitals volunteers who came to support their colleagues and friends.

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