Second wave? The fashion designers joined the mission and transformed the white costumes, which discouraged quite a few patients, into happy artwork that would make you smile

• The new uniform

  Photo: 

  Joshua Joseph

For weeks, the medical staff walked around in their white protective suits feeling distant from their patients, but the fashion designers turned up for the task and turned the white outfits into joyous artwork. If there is a second wave, medical teams at Beilinson and Sharon hospitals are already ready.

Saad Omer respirator technician

Saad Omar, 37, lives in the Muslim settlement of Singer. During the Corona, he was responsible for training the medical teams on the operation of the ACMU and ventilator machines. He was forced during the Corona to connect the patients to the respirators, which they talked about so much in the new releases, and the magnitude of the responsibility that lay upon his shoulders could be understood. 

"It was a very easy time. In the first two weeks, we had to prepare the hospitals with all the equipment needed, train medical staff to operate new equipment, and later, when they started to reach patients, respond to malfunctions. This is a very stressful role, especially when you need to mobile respirators. It is also gratifying to see patients who were connected to the ventilator and released home healthy, and there is also sadness when they were deceased patients. The consolation was that we knew wholeheartedly that we did everything we could do to save them. "

Designer Doron Ashkenazi, who met Omar, said: "The medical teams and educators are fully appreciated. Unfortunately, the state does not reward them properly. So I was also very happy to participate in this project and support them on my way. "Of fabrics that I use in the designs I make. I created interesting textures and splashes. It was important to me that the overall be colorful and happy. I used burgundy, yellow, light green and a little gold.

For the mask, I made an interesting mosaic of birds standing on a wire, because birds signify freedom, and bird chirping is a pleasant and good voice. " 

Ashkenazi added:" You cannot ignore the unpleasant touch and feel of the fabric from which the overall is made. It is a synthetic, unpleasant touch that gives the feeling of walking inside a plastic bag. I have trouble understanding how they worked within it for hours. "

When Omar measured the new suit, he said: "It came out really beautiful and it even makes sense to stay inside it," he smiled. "If in the past I was waiting to finish the shift just to take off my protective suit, now I feel I can easily stay with it for a few hours. I didn't expect such a special and beautiful one to come out. I really thank Doron for the beautiful piece. Can I keep it with me?"

Yaffa Ananya, security guard at the hospital

Yaffe Ananya, 28, who lives with her six brothers and parents in Petah Tikva, is the only woman working as a security guard at Sharon Hospital and also a fourth-year student of criminology. She said the security department's role was very critical during the Corona era.

"Since it was a hospital that treated Corona patients, every time a patient arrived, the hospital became like a scene of security for the prime minister's arrival: forces are deployed on each side in a few moments." She said of the difficulties she experienced during this period: "There were nervous patients and angry family. Telling the patient that he could not go in with a relative is unacceptable. This is a difficult dilemma. Our hearts were with them. We were told: 'You have no heart'" .

Anania concludes this period: "It is a very challenging and professional period. I felt that we were not transparent, that we needed and we were very important and important to the system. Personally, this was a time I was very worried about for my parents. I live with them and my brothers, and I was afraid to catch up with them." 

Designer Yuval Ravid, who met Yaffe, told of his experience: "As an artist who loves to draw on a garment, it was important for me to break the white look and that the garment would be colorful. Strong colors like pink fuchsia and turquoise blue certainly added joy. "It really makes a good feeling in my heart. It enlightened her. I'm used to dressing up models, and a pretty mouth saw the result and it straight up put an embarrassed smile on her face, which is magical."

"I really liked what Yuval designed," says Ananya, "adding color to these suits is an important thing - and basically anything that can make the initial encounter with patients more pleasant."

Ravid added: "It's very beautiful and flattering. You really deserve it, the medical staff, for everything you have done for the civilians in recent times and in general."         

Hila Asheri, a nurse in the emergency medicine department

Hila Ashri, 33, from Tel Aviv, has been a nurse for about 10 years in the emergency medicine department at Beilinson. "All the experience and seniority and scenarios that can only be imagined did not come close to what it really was," Asheri says. "We saw the pictures that came from Italy, and there was a great concern. A feeling of 'here it is soon approaching us', accompanied by fear of the unknown. I remember the first patient to arrive. 

She also added that there were quite a few moments of breakup and crying. "The lucky thing is that the team was kind of friends, and not just friends. They are the only ones who understand what you're going through. We looked Corona in the eye. I remember grandfather about 80 years old who turned out to be positive. The next day I was interested in what he was doing, and I was told that his situation was deteriorating. And I thought that just yesterday he was walking on his own feet, and how suddenly he is breathing? It gives a slap in the face - this is a virus that attacks differently than we knew. "

Blessed is the moment of satisfaction, too. "Apart from the fact that this is going to be on the pages of history and I am part of it, I remember one grandmother's hand leaning on me as I led her in the wing, with my grandfather's smile as I covered him with a blanket."

I was greeted by designer Maoz Dahan, who said: "Deja W. made me a protective garment. Two years ago, I presented a fashionable garment with a similar look to the overall worn by the medical staff, and for me to close a circle. The noise the fabric made was very stiff. "I thought the garment was very daunting for those who come to the hospital and meet the staff that way."

Asheri said: "I saw an impressive overall with a shot of color, a minimalist and beautiful design, which also made an incredible change in feel." Maoz concluded: "Well I managed to make her happy, sometimes it doesn't take much to make a big change."

Noa Ben Nun, intensive care nurse

Noa Ben Nun, 38, immigrated from Ukraine alone at the age of 15 as part of a youth program. She currently lives in Petah Tikva, married and mother of three young children, and only recently her parents immigrated to Israel. About the Corona period, she says: "It was an easy time.

As a responsible nurse at Sharon Hospital, I would arrive at seven in the morning and stay until 11 at night. I barely saw the kids. It is to work around the clock, with a very uncomfortable protective suit. In the suit very quickly we get hot, sweaty and sweat stays on you. It is a hard feeling that you are in a sauna, and in this situation we had to treat the severely ill. " 

She said: "It was a professionally challenging time, and also a very frightening period. Patients who came to consciousness, their condition deteriorated quickly until they needed breathing. "They all look the same inside the space suits. Don't see what we look like and what's different from one another. I remember very quickly we pasted personal photos on the front and back so they could see the face of anyone under the suit."

Noa met with the designers Tubella and Naama Hasin. Hasin said: "When I was approached about this, I immediately thought about my sister being a New York Intensive Care Nurse, so it was important for me to design for someone in a role like hers. When we got the protective suit I touched the fabric, and immediately got the hell out of me, how medical teams can go around On the other hand, my mother (Tuvala) saw the potential for a fashionable overall. We thought together on a design that was very closely connected to our manuscript, and we chose to sew floral tissue and the hospital logo, and my mother noted that the Israeli flag is also required. "God forbid, I had to be treated in a hospital. I would like to see the medical staff dressed in colored clothing rather than the appearance of a threatening UFO."

"All the way to a meeting with Naama and immersed in the studio, I thought, 'What can you do with protective suits?'" Ben Nun says. "I was surprised when I saw the flower tissues, I stayed open-mouthed. It was fun to meet them, a meeting that included a lot of laughter. It looked like a normal overall, a garment for everything."

Hasin added: "Seeing the enthusiasm and joy as movement measured the garment - for us, that means everything. Seeing her smile is a great satisfaction. I wish this garment would bring an idea to manufacturers, which with a little color can change a lot."