What might be the single most significant pro-vaccination effort in the Orthodox Jewish community began because of a carpool. Dr. Sarah Becker, a coaching fellow of psychiatry, had recently gotten her shot and was doing school pickup when she overheard a fellow mother voicing vaccine dissent. “I’m never letting this into my body,” the woman said.
She wasn’t the only one. Concerns about the COVID vaccine have been echoed by women across the spectrum, who fear that the inoculation may affect fertility or change their DNA. Dr. Becker, recognizing the potential of frum female physicians to help with vaccine apprehension, reached out to Dr. Miriam Knoll, president of the Jewish Orthodox Women’s Medical Association (JOWMA).
Dr. Knoll, a radiation oncologist, co-founded JOWMA together with Dr. Eliana Fine Feld, an OBGYN resident, and JOWMA’s past CEO. They connected over Instagram because of a mutual predicament: as solid Bais Yaakov graduates, they both felt alone in the medical industry.
It didn’t take long for the team to find others in the same boat. Dr. Fine Feld took the plunge, proposing an inaugural dinner, and JOWMA was born. Many of the initial attendees became speakers on the event’s panel and later formed JOWMA’s advisory board. Dr. Bat-Sheva Lerner Maslow, Dr. Sherrie Neustein Orzel, Dr. Mira Hellman-Ostrov, and Dr. Chana Weinstock Neuberger were among the first physicians Dr. Fine Feld connected with on Facebook and helped form the foundations of JOWMA.
JOWMA, a not-for-profit organization composed of 99% volunteers, has a double-sided mission statement: to provide health education to the Jewish community and support female physicians at the same time. Creative and dynamic, Dr. Fine Feld describes JOWMA as a “small idea” that turned into a “massive dream.” She says the first get-together generated $10,000 in funds, as physicians and philanthropists saw the potential of a platform that would unite Orthodox women and use their expertise to help others.
In an era of misinformation and mass media, it’s more important than ever for Orthodox women to know that they can turn to JOWMA for sound medical advice. For instance, following the measles outbreak of 2019, JOWMA’s Dr. Maureen Nemetski worked with Dr. Jane Zucker, assistant commissioner at the NYC Department of Health, to create a free MMR vaccine hotline.
The hotline initiative spiraled into a preventative health committee, as JOWMA recognized the need for in-depth immunization and safety education. During the Covid-19 pandemic, they put out a statement on how to keep mikvahs safe, and later offered guidance to schools.
Today, JOWMA offers free webinars, pamphlets, and podcasts, produced by a plethora of committees on women’s health and wellness. Their premed committee provides mentorship opportunities to women interested in a medical career. Dr. Fine Feld says they are actively fundraising, with a dream to create a scholarship fund to encourage frum women to attend medical school.
JOWMA’s mission captivated pediatric resident Jackie Benayoun, MD, who describes JOWMA as a network devoted to “helping frum females have a good role model within medicine.” Coming from a smaller school, this was a luxury that Dr. Benayoun lacked. She began producing webinars for JOWMA on women’s health, a passion that snowballed into co-chairing the teen health committee. The committee intends to host webinars covering body positivity, eating disorders, and more and is creating educational content – such as animations – that are modest, medically accurate, and appealing. “I wish I had this when I was young,” one elderly woman commented.
The teen health material is provided by experts. Dr. Gail Guttman, co-chair of the committee, is a pediatric resident specializing in adolescent medicine, and Miriam Korlansky, RN, also on the committee, worked with assault victims and is now a medical student. Dr. Elissa Hellman, an OBGYN who started the Confident Kallah to prepare Jewish women for marriage, moderated the teen health webinar. The content on teens’ health is especially crucial because school systems often lack the structure for such an education.
The new Covid-19 task force fills another void in the community: that created by the advent of the vaccine. It officially operates under JOWMA’s preventative health umbrella. Dr. Becker serves as chair of the task force. She says their role is “to provide the most up-to-date, evidence-based, scientific information to the frum community at large, so people feel like they have all the tools to make the decision with regard to vaccination that is right for them and their families.” The task force received grants from non-profit organizations with like-minded missions, such as the UJA.
The taskforce’s first project was a myth-busting article that ran in a local paper. They have since expanded to include webinars, podcasts, brochures, and a hotline. Shortly after Pesach, they hosted a town hall for women, in which experts spoke on the effects of the vaccine on fertility and pregnancy. Dr. Becker says their goal is to separate myth from fact and the known from the assumed and unknown. “People can trust us,” she says, “because we’ll say things as they are and not as they are not.”
Indeed, the task force consists of specialists who proofread every pamphlet. Dr. Alisa Minkin, a pediatrician who also runs JOWMA’s preventative health podcasts, brings in relevant speakers. Ever passionate about immunization, she was also active during the measles outbreak. Dr. Ellie Carmody, an infectious disease expert, can always be consulted for accuracy, and more recently, Dr. Gita Lisker – a pulmonologist who developed an outpatient COVID treatment program, also joined the team.
A major challenge to battling vaccine misinformation is the ever-changing COVID arena. To combat this effect, JOWMA, with the help of Dr. Lisker, launched an e-newsletter to keep healthcare professionals in the loop. They intend to use this forum to update the attendees of their initial education webinars.
Dr. Benayoun of teen health also discussed the evolving nature of their work. She says that developing material demands constant creativity and communication. A single webinar, for instance, involves over 30 hours of work, between planning content with the panelists and organizing logistics and advertising.
Dr. Becker agrees that the process is exhaustive. Once a focus has been established, and speakers are chosen, the word has to get around, the task force has to track submitted questions in order to maximize reach during speeches, and consistent with their goal to raise as much awareness as possible, every event offers live, recorded, and dial-in options to cater to different schedules and sectors.
Catering to women with diverse backgrounds and levels of sensitivity is a priority at JOWMA. For this reason, the preventative health committee now offers podcasts for Internet users. The same information is provided on the hotline for those who don’t have access. Likewise, the teen health webinars address parents first, giving them a chance to preview the content their daughters are watching.
The effort is well worth it. Dr. Becker says that hundreds tuned in to their COVID vaccine workshops, and others have reached out by email with feedback. The response has been “overwhelmingly thoughtful and often positive,” which, she points out, is more than can be expected from so sensitive a topic.
Dr. Becker attributes their impact to a collective effort. In addition to the members previously mentioned, the task force includes Dr. Jennie Berkovich, a pediatrician and vaccine advocate from Chicago, and Dr. Mira Hellmann, a GYN-ONC surgeon who is instrumental in other JOWMA activities. Their combined expertise ensures top-tier accuracy and effectiveness.
The taskforce WhatsApp group is constantly busy as its members collaborate to meet demands. As an example, they teamed up with the NY Department of Health – who liked their content – to distribute JOWMA flyers on vaccine education, available to order through the JOWMA website. The teen health committee is also working with the Department of Health to produce pamphlets for doctor’s offices.
Dr. Becker notes that although events and ads are good for education, they don’t address the lingering questions or personal concerns. Thus, the vaccine task force recently launched a 24-hour hotline to address vaccine-related confusion. Already, the hotline has helped leaders help their communities. “If you want to change minds, you have to open hearts, and you have to listen,” she says. And they will.
To donate or to reach out to the JOWMA Covid-19 taskforce with questions or concerns, please go to www.jowma.org/covid19 or email [email protected].
