About the Scientific Activity and Mutual Assistance Fund of Hadera Physicians

These scholarships are awarded by the Scientific Activity and Mutual Assistance Fund of Hadera Physicians, the families of Dr. Pachner and Dr. Wilder, and fund representatives, Dr. Pesach and Dr. Segal.

The source of the financial scholarships are donations collected in 1983 and that remain in the fund. By providing the scholarships, we are honoring the wishes of our parents who were physicians, as these funds, which were donated by physicians for physicians almost 50 years ago will enable a new generation of young physicians to professionalize and develop to the benefit of the patients who need them.

Through this effort, we want to convey the importance of medical excellence, demonstrating that it is tightly coupled with the values of human and medical commitment to colleagues and the community.

The fund was established in the 1960s as the Association of Physicians from Hadera, the Sharon, Samaria, by a group of physicians who resided in Hadera and the surrounding area. The most prominent among the physicians on the executive committee were Dr. Even Haim - family physician, Dr. Dicker - surgeon, Dr. Danosh - pediatrician, Dr. Wilder - pediatrician, Dr. Nagler - family physician, Dr. Pachner - ophthalmologist, and Dr. Kashtalansky - ENT.

The physicians, most of whom were Holocaust survivors, had studied medicine in Europe before the war or immediately afterwards, all with a wide range of medical specializations. The local committee was involved in a number of fields:

• Expanding the professional knowledge of the physicians in the region. 
• Being involved in the community. 
• Addressing the occupational rights of physicians. 
• Social activity to strengthen the relationships between the physicians in the region and their families.

Strengthening and expanding knowledge was done by planning local lectures, weekly knowledge meetings and study days. The activity included peer learning and cooperation with Hillel Yaffe hospital, which was and remains the main hospital for residents of the region. They worked with the hospital as community physicians in their own areas of specialization.

Community involvement was achieved after work hours and included lectures and meetings with residents of the region, Jews and Arabs, long-standing residents, on kibbutzim, in cities and farming communities, places where there were high concentrations of new immigrants and immigrant absorption camps. This was all done to communicate knowledge and habits related to health, hygiene, the importance of vaccination, importance of going to the well-baby clinic, medical follow up and more to the population. Additionally, they would visit orphanages, old age homes and homes of weak populations in the region to provide them with optimal service. This work was founded upon their sense of mission that went hand in hand with the values of their profession and based on the Hippocratic Oath.

Doctors’ strike - in 1983, a doctors’ strike was called, known as the Great Strike. It lasted 117 days, during which the physicians left the hospitals, submitted letters of resignation and, in some cases, even went on a hunger strike. In response, the government stopped paying salaries, which caused many of the physicians to experience financial hardship.

To help their fellow physicians in distress, Dr. Pachner and Dr. Wilder established a fund made up of donations. This fund raised money from local physicians on behalf of their peers who were hurt financially and acted to extend loans to physicians who needed them.

Through their work, Dr. Pachner, Dr. Wilder and the physicians involved with the fund, they embodied the values of mutual assistance, their professional and human commitment and medical collegiality, which were what guided their activity.