The nurse who volunteered for reserve duty

Rika El Ami Dadon, 52, from Karkur, is married and a mother of three. She was raised on Kibbutz Sa’ad, a kibbutz in southern Israel whose residents have been displaced since the beginning of the war. “When the reports of terrorists infiltrating the area began, I was scared. My 86-year-old mother lives alone on the kibbutz. She was locked in the protected room all Saturday, and we were very worried about her. Fortunately, the terrorists weren't able to penetrate the kibbutz, and the following day my brothers went to get her. Now she is with the rest of the displaced residents of the kibbutz in a hotel at the Dead Sea.”

Five years ago, Rika was discharged from her service in the standing army. She served as an education officer and was involved in recruitment, allocation and promotion of special populations such as new immigrants, at-risk youth and others. In April 2019, she began studying nursing at Hillel Yaffe Medical Center's School of Nursing. After completing her studies in September 2021, she worked in the COVID-19 Department at the hospital and then underwent training in palliative care and was assigned as registered nurse in the Gynecology Department.

Rika El Ami Dadon in her HYMC nurse's uniform and her uniform as a reserve officer in the Education Corps

Since the outbreak of the war, Rika sought to volunteer any way possible. She helped a family where the mother was sick, and the father was called up for reserve duty. She cooked for soldiers, collected donations of clothing for displaced people and even made condolence calls to families of fallen soldiers she did not even know. On one of the evening shifts she worked as a registered nurse in the Gynecology Department, an officer serving in the Education Corps was hospitalized. Rika knew her from the time they had served together. Senior officers from the corps came to visit her and were surprised to see that one of the nurses in the department was none other than the senior officer who had served with them about five years ago. Due to the moving meeting between them, during which Rika said that she would be happy to return and volunteer for reserve duty, she was assigned to the war room at Tel Hashomer as a representative of the Education Corps in the Human Resources Directorate. For about a month now, she has been maneuvering between her work as a nurse and being an education officer on reserve duty.

“The Education Corps has very important tasks at wartime, and it helps the war effort with any needs that arise. The Corps helps provide commanders with educational materials, helps plan and organize relaxing activities for soldiers when they are off duty, helps support the displaced populations, agriculture, staffs call centers, packs field rations, organizes forces for various tasks and more,” said Rika.

“I never imagined I’d be back serving as an education officer on reserve duty. I’m happy with the professional change I made and feel that I found my calling as a nurse. I like the interaction with the patients, the responsibility for their care, educating them and helping with anything possible. I've been very, very busy over the past month and, despite the difficulty, I have such a tremendous sense of satisfaction and feel like I am giving of myself and my abilities, both at work and in the military.”