Painting Rambam in Pink: As part of the world-wide "Breast Cancer Awareness Month" in October, two of the historic Rambam Health Care Campus buildings were bathed in pink lights yesterday evening (18 October 2017) – the old medical school faculty and the Stone Building. The building-lighting ceremony was attended by Israeli Parliament Ministers Aida Touma-Sliman and Ayman Odeh, Mariam Foundation board of directors members, Rambam administration representatives and hospital staff, and the Hamad family with their friends and supporters.
Breast Cancer Awareness Month:
Historic Buildings at Rambam
Illuminated in Pink
The illumination of the buildings, an initiative of and the Mariam Foundation, which works to raise awareness of cancer and the in the Arab sector, and the Rambam Knowledge Center is part of a global tradition that has taken place for years with the goal of increasing breast cancer awareness. The Mariam Foundation, established five years ago, undertook this year to illuminate multiple buildings related to the Arab sector throughout October in order to promote awareness of the importance of early detection to prevent cancer in the Israeli Arab population, a project that was recently declared as the largest of its kind in the Middle East.
The choice of Rambam as a "pink" focal point represents the closing of a circle for Hamada Hamad, 28 years old, who established the NGO after the death of his eight-year old sister Mariam from leukemia. Mariam fought the disease for three years with the help of Rambam pediatrics hematology – oncology medical staff, but despite their best efforts succumbed to the disease. Her death led to her big brother establishing the Foundation in her name with the goal of saving lives. "The vision of the Rambam buildings in pink, at the place where it all began, is a very emotional experience for me and my family", said Hamad, "Rambam has the greatest capacity to treat all types of cancer, and I am full of hope that together we will make a change and turn our personal tragedy into something good".
In the picture: Historic RHCC buildings Illuminated in Pink
Photo credit: Pioter Fliter
