By Baruch Frieber
When the workers’ camp was established in Tel Mond, the number of people needing Kupat Holim services increased significantly.
At first, the workers lived in tents, and the surrounding swamps provided fertile ground for malaria (tertian fever). Dr. Kott, the first doctor in the Tel Mond bloc, was overwhelmed with work. In fact, he was merely a representative of Hadassah, and according to an agreement between Hadassah and Kupat Holim, the latter had to pay five grush per month for each Kupat Holim member, in return for medical services provided in Kfar Saba, Ra’anana, Herzliya, and Magdiel. Each of these settlements had a designated collector who received 10% of the funds he collected as a collection fee.
When I moved to Kfar Saba, this arrangement seemed unreasonable to me, and I decided to “take matters into my own hands” and organize independent Kupat Holim branches in each locality. Among other efforts, I also began visiting Kfar Hess, Ein Vered, and Herut, and I established a regional Kupat Holim branch in the hut of a friend of Dr. Wolf. He gave us a room in a hut that served as both Dr. Wolf’s clinic and, in the other half, a workspace for the nurse Miriam Margolin (of blessed memory) from Kfar Malal. The waiting area doubled as the treatment room, and the small kitchenette served as the reception office.
This was the first regional clinic of Kupat Holim for the entire Sharon region. When the Tel Mond workers’ camp was also placed under my supervision, and the number of malaria patients continued to rise daily, I decided - on the advice of the late Dr. Kott - to set up a large hut, screened but without curtains or nets, which served as an infirmary for patient care. I recall that from that point onward, illness among the camp workers significantly declined.
Among the first medical staff were the orderly Svet, and Dr. Lakhovitzer, who had immigrated from Russia and was hired as a medic based on a recommendation from the late Moshe Rabinowitz of the Kupat Holim central office. Later on, Penina Pachter, mother of Dan Pattir (who today serves as an advisor to the Prime Minister), was hired as a nurse.
As the population in Tel Mond grew, with the help of the late Kaminsky, a representative of the Plantation Company - it was decided to establish an independent Kupat Holim branch in Tel Mond. With the founding of the first three settlements in the area, Dr. Kott was assigned to serve two days a week in the Tel Mond clinic. Later, when a clinic was established in Kfar Hess, Dr. Kott was again appointed the first physician- on one condition: he would not ride a donkey or travel by cart; he must be provided with a car. The condition was fulfilled, and his brother-in-law, the late Binyamin Aharonovitz, served as his driver.
The roads were in terrible condition, and the car frequently broke down. I recall many episodes that illustrate the medical service and hospitalization methods of those days which pale in comparison to the achievements of Kupat Holim today.
As the Kupat Holim branches in Ra’anana and Herzliya grew and I could no longer meet all the needs, Meir Rapoport from Herut was appointed as the Kupat Holim representative for the Tel Mond bloc. However, I maintained contact with the Tel Mond settlements in my role as Director of the Parallel Tax Department at Kupat Holim. Even after I retired, I continued to visit Kfar Hess each year to participate in the “Return Festival” initiated by Avraham Gutkovsky.