Who we are:

Healing Across the Divides (HATD; www.healingdivides.org), founded in late 2004, brings together Christians, Muslims and Jews of all backgrounds to assist Israeli and Palestinian health care organizations improve the health of Israelis and Palestinians within a community based framework. We believe that improved health is a key attribute to a purposeful life. HATD does not provide direct services. Rather, we seek to empower community based organizations to improve the health of their communities via funds and technical assistance. 

Norbert Goldfield, M.D. is the executive director. He brings more than 30 years of experience restructuring health care systems both at a national and a community setting together with extensive experience collaborating with Israelis and Palestinians. HATD is assisted by a Board of Directors representing three key constituencies (nationally recognized Jewish Americans, Arab Americans and health care professionals/Middle East experts). In addition, a technical advisory committee composed of researchers from throughout the world provides scientific input into the ongoing development and expansion of funded projects. Our current annual budget is approximately $300,000. Grants begin at $15,000 and can expand to a maximum of $50,000.

Our Mission

Healing Across the Divides pursues initiatives, via financial support and technical advice, in women's health and common chronic diseases that will result in:

• Documented improved health status of the population in the context of empowerment of individuals and communities
• Increased awareness, on the part of policymakers and other interested parties, of the obstacles to improvement in the health of both populations. In addition to print/internet based material, we increase awareness via regular engagement between leaders of funded groups and government/private groups across the entire political spectrum.

If these initiatives are successful, and receive attention both in and outside the Middle East, we feel that they can contribute to any serious commitment to peace.

Accomplishments to Date: A Sampling

Chronic Diseases: To date, four organizations (including Tene Briut, serving Ethiopian Jews throughout Israel, and Palestine Medical Relief Society, serving Palestinians on the West Bank) have received grants on diabetes care that have resulted in the training of community leaders. They in turn work with diabetic patients within a community setting and in cooperation with the local health care system. Two organizations have reported their results in the scientific literature. One organization is using the grant to serve several thousand diabetics.

Women's Health: To date, five organizations have received grants in women's health., For example, our assistance has contributed to improved overall health for a large number of Palestinian women in Bethlehem, a better understanding of health care challenges facing women in unrecognized Israeli Arab villages, and outreach efforts to improve overall health and specifically increase earlier breast cancer diagnosis for orthodox Jewish women in Jerusalem.  

Our Future

Building on our documented accomplishments, HATD has hired several part time development professionals. We have just hired our first Director of American Operations, Miriam Isserow. Feel free to contact us at: norbert@healingdivides.org; miriam@healingdivdies.org; Patrick@healingdivides.org

More information about projects:

a. Established Initiatives

Tene Briut: This community outreach program promotes the health of Ethiopian Jewish diabetics. Tene Briut began it in 2007 in Hadera, Israel with the following objectives:

• To raise the overall health status of the Ethiopian-Israeli community, specifically diabetics, through community based educational outreach activities emphasizing healthy lifestyle issues such as the importance of nutrition, exercise, and stress management
• To increase awareness within the healthcare delivery system of the importance and effectiveness of culturally competent care, and to supply the tools to enable healthcare workers to provide culturally sensitive care to their Ethiopian patients.
• To empower the Ethiopian-Israeli community with knowledge about health and their rights within the health system, thereby empowering them to encourage health care system change.

In addition to financial support, Healing Across the Divides is providing technical and organizational support, via Shatil, a community consulting organization. Our technical support has focused on identifying and sharing best practices for effectively controlling diabetes within the community setting.

Al Tufula: This program emphasizes community based health promotion for Palestinian women in newly recognized or unrecognized Arab villages in Northern Israel (Recognition is a legal status that leads to additional mandated Israeli government services such as water, electricity.) AlTufula, an organization based in Nazareth, began this project in 2008 with the following objectives:

• improve women's health in Demeida and Husseniah based on community based health promotion approaches focused on nutrition and exercise
• empower women to become their own health advocates in their villages.
• increase women's attitudes towards a healthy lifestyle, increase their knowledge and improve skills concerning healthy behaviors, based on existing local knowledge and resources, and taking into consideration the women's tradition and heritage. 
• train women to become health activists and to organize health promotion activities in community health.

In addition to financial support, Healing Across the Divides, via consultation with our Technical Advisory Committee and experts at the RAND Corporation, has provided technical advice on methodological considerations regarding measurement of improvement in women's health.

Beit Natan : This Jerusalem based organization focuses on the health of Haredi/ Orthodox Jewish women and on increasing awareness of a woman's responsibility to take care of her physical and emotional health. The main method of reaching initial goals in 2007-8, the initial project year, was to contact community leaders and teachers (bridal teachers, mikvah attendants, health care professionals) and having them, in turn, reach out to their particular population. In 2008-9, the emphasis was on reaching and training professionals such as increasing the number of female doctors performing Clinical Breast Examination (CBE) as a complement to other ongoing efforts to decrease the significant rate of breast cancer among Haredi women. The current objectives of this project are to:

• train female physicians from all four HMO's in a standardized CBE method and to analyze their subsequent delivery of the CBE in the community setting for: ease of delivery and physician confidence in the method
• assess women's perception of having a female physician conduct CBE, the reason for women's compliance or noncompliance with CBE, and influence of culture on patient's health decision making.

In addition to financial support, Healing Across the Divides has worked with our Technical Advisory Committee which includes breast cancer experts, to provide suggestions on best ways to measure program impact.

Dar Al Kalima Based in Bethlehem, West Bank, this organization belongs to a consortium of three Lutheran based, ecumenically oriented organizations called DIYAR serving the Palestinian community with an emphasis on children, women and the elderly. Starting in 2006, the DAK Health and Wellness center embarked on a healthy lifestyle promotion program called Fit for Life, funded by Healing Across the Divides.  The objective of this project is to improve fitness activities among Palestinian women in Bethlehem.

In addition to financial support, Healing Across the Divides has worked with DAK to develop the evaluation instrument and has provided suggestions on possible partnerships with other groups in the West Bank.

Palestine Medical Relief Society(PMRS) Formerly the Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees) the PMRS is a grassroots, Ramallah based health organization, founded in 1979 by a group of Palestinian doctors and health professionals seeking to fill the gap in primary healthcare services in rural areas of Palestine. It is one of the largest health NGOs in Palestine. The objective of this initiative, program begun in 2005, is to increase diabetes control in approximately 4000 diabetics.

The first phase of the intervention focused on three clinics in the West Bank.  The diabetes program of PMRS has led to noticeable improvement in the control of diabetes in three locations (Kteish et al, Journal of Ambulatory Care Management, vol 30:1, 2007). It is important to note that even with improvements achieved, about 80% of diabetics in the target clinics still fall within the uncontrolled group. This leaves a significant area of need for future diabetes programs. The second phase has expanded the intervention to 15 clinics. The program started with several hundred patients and has expanded to cover almost 4000 patients.  For the future, PMRS is looking to refine its interventions to increase program participation. In particular, the PMRS plans to involve each of the 15 clinics in self-designed continuous quality improvement projects. The PMRS has also developed a questionnaire that will be completed for each enrollee. The instrument includes routine laboratory testing and assessment of aspects of functional status and degree of empowerment.

b. Projects that are Just Beginning - 2009

Kehillah: Kehila (community in Hebrew) is a community based association that is part of a kibbutz situated in the city of Bet Shemesh (Kibutz Ironi). Bet Shemesh is a city with a very high percentage of low income citizens, Russian and Ethiopian immigrants as well as Israeli born people who cannot afford to live in Jerusalem or Tel Aviv. The objective of the project is to use the 10 year old center for social rights to create a group of 20 volunteer leaders to identify health care needs of the community. In turn these leaders will work to empower a minimum of 300 low income individuals in their efforts to negotiate with the health care system and improve their health. In this project, Healing Across the Divides is working together with the Israeli based Oran and Gandyr Foundations.

Women Against Violence (WAVO): Based in Nazareth, this group is working to improve preventive health practices among women. The specific objectives of the work are to:

• Provide women with the key material, including empowerment workshops, that helps them take care of their health
• Run two pilot women's groups working towards building a full program which addresses the issues of women's health

Tikun: Based in Migdal Emek, this group works with at-risk youth in a small town in the "periphery" (underserved outlying communities) of Israel. In this project, Healing Across the Divides is working together with the Oran and Gandyr Foundations. The objective of this project is to increase healthy liftestyle awareness and increase awareness of sexuality among youth at risk in the periphery (outlying parts geographically) of Israel.

Ilabun: This project located in an Israeli Arab town in the north of Israel focuses on nutritional disorders among teenage women. In this project, Healing Across the Divides is working together with the Oran and Gandyr Foundations. The objective of this effort is to form support groups of teenage women that will emphasize healthy nutritional lifestyle  together with empowerment strategies. These teenage women in turn will become  leaders among their peers .