Healthcare Navigated.
Life Lived.

I wanted to say thank you once again.

I had a cardiac catheterization last week in New York and my cardiologist told me to arrange for cardiac rehab. I sent Merav a note this morning asking for help and had a reply from her an hour later. In that time she had spoken with people at Hadassah and Shaare Zedek, gathered information on costs, appointments, insurance, and arranged for me to be enrolled in a program as soon as next week.

My primary concern about healthcare in Israel had always been the task of identifying and communicating with the right people. It had been a problem for so long, I’m still adjusting to the idea that you and your colleagues have made this process painless. But you have, and I am grateful.

A year ago, Ruth Amaru shared with me her idea for creating a healthcare concierge service — one that would advise people and help them navigate their interactions with the Israeli healthcare system.

My first reaction was, “Genius. Why didn’t I think of that?” My second reaction was, “When can you sign me up?”

Ruth could have signed me up right then, but over the past nine months I watched that idea evolve into a full business operation — the service that Renee and I eventually joined. Here is what we experienced.

The Israeli healthcare system, as good as it can be, is often cumbersome, unnecessarily bureaucratic, sometimes unresponsive, and, most of all, uncoordinated. That last issue may be the most frustrating one for many people.

A simple example: your doctor listens to your health concern and immediately sends you off for tests, referrals, and appointments. You go from one place to another, waiting for results — and then, nothing. You ask yourself: Did anyone read the results? Is anyone following up with the specialist? What happens next? Too often, it feels as if no one is responsible for the next step.

That is the beauty of Zayit. Ruth and her team of excellent English-speaking professionals take charge. They become your health team — or, let me say it more plainly, my health team. They advocate for me, make the calls, follow up on results, coordinate with doctors and specialists, and suggest the next steps.

I have gone from saying, “I wish I had thought of that,” one year ago, to asking myself, “How did I live in Israel for eleven years without this?”

Working with Zayit has been amazing.

My mom absolutely loves having a team she can reach with a simple WhatsApp message. She feels supported and really appreciates that she doesn’t have to rely on me for every little thing anymore. That alone has given me so much peace of mind.

What has impressed me most is the incredible initiative and problem-solving. They make things happen. They arranged for a doctor she’d been waiting a week to hear from to call, helped navigate everything, and then the kupah called to tell us they’d even sorted out a hospital bill. We didn’t have to do a thing.

Thank you so, so, so much. Knowing we have you in our corner has been an enormous relief. I honestly can’t recommend Zayit highly enough.

I appreciate how Zayit smooths my dealings with the Israeli health care system by their knock-out combination of personal attention with speedy digital affordances. In my experience there is always someone available to help, whether by arranging (or rearranging) appointments (as when a family brit took priority over a bone scan), tracking down delays or hold-ups and intervening to repair. In general, they seem to know how to make things go smoothly. The efficiency of the Zayit team, as I understand it, is enabled by their skilled use of up-to-date (and continually updated) digital tools, taking from me a lot of the burden of the health care bureaucracy. This is helpful not only to new immigrants to whom the Israeli systems are mysterious, but also to older folks (like me) whose skills with my smartphone aren’t always so smart. At the same time, the Zayit app allows me digital access to my file, my records, my appointments, etc, if and when I want any of it. They give me the best of both worlds.