Kindness done right

Kindness is in the details.

Chezi Rosenbaum would know. As a member of Hatzalah United Ambulance service, a medic and a volunteer in Assuta Ashdod’s ER, he sees it firsthand.

A cup of coffee, for example.

But not just any cup of coffee. A cup of coffee prepared just right by Chezi – with a ¼ teaspoon of sugar and a drop of milk for a COVID patient lying incapacitated in the COVID unit. A simple cup of coffee transformed the sick man’s spirits.

The smartphone.

One family sent a smartphone to their sick father who was isolated in the COVID unit, so they could communicate with him. When he didn’t call them, they were very distressed. Chezi showed the father how to take it off airplane mode so he could make a call.

That tablet.

A 70-year-old Georgian man had a tablet in the hospital but had not communicated with his worried children. Chezi connected Whatsapp to the tablet and organized a Zoom meeting with the patient’s children and grandchildren. Afterward, the patient gratefully said, “If I had a choice between a million dollars and that phone call, I’d take that phone call.”

For 42-year-old Chezi Rosenbaum, chesed (acts of kindness) fuel him. In fact, he’s constantly on the move, and always looking for new opportunities. Even the quiet ones.

One evening, Dr. Debra West, head of the Emergency Department at Assuta Ashdod, sent an urgent WhatsApp to the Hatzalah volunteers. A 100-year-old man had arrived at the hospital alone, with just a few hours left to live.

Dr. West asked the vital question, “Is someone available to sit with him during his final hours?”

Chezi made himself available. Dr. West welcomed him personally. Over the next few hours, she entered the room periodically to see how their patient was doing. She patted the patient on the shoulder as if he were her own father.

It’s those small details that elevate an act of kindness.

“Dr. West is such a good person. She noticed this man was all alone and asked for someone to help him. Even though she’s so busy as head of the ER, she never stops caring.”

As a medic and member of United Hatzalah, Chezi volunteers his time once a week in the ER at Assuta Ashdod. Married with four kids ages four to seventeen, he works from home as a salesperson for an Amazon company in the U.S.

Chezi inherited the chesed gene.

“My mother used to volunteer in the Har Nof bridal gemach (thrift shop) and the Yellow Door clothing gemach. Every day she did chesed.” As a recent volunteer in Ukraine, Chezi received a letter from his children.

“My children said when they get older, they want to do chesed like me. It’s in their blood.”

There’s another group of people Chezi calls family – the team in Assuta Ashdod’s ER.

“Hatzalah launched a volunteer program there, and because it’s a new hospital, the program has been very successful. Everyone is like family. We all help each other with a smile and we’re always learning more. It’s a win-win for everyone.”

Especially the patients at Assuta Ashdod.