Einat and Idan met nearly two years ago during the first coronavirus wave in Israel, while volunteering at a COVID ward in Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem.
Despite the restrictions, such as facemasks, social distancing, personal protective equipment and chaos that defined the initial onset of the pandemic, the pair managed to find each other and they soon fell in love. Fast-forward two years later, and the two are happily married.
Their story began when the hospital had launched the so-called "coronavirus project," with the goal of supporting the hospital’s medical staff and responding to the increasingly large influx of patients by recruiting trained paramedics to work in the hospital’s newly opened coronavirus ward as volunteers.
Among the volunteers was Idan Pellow, 26, who had moved to Israel from Canada in 2014 to join the IDF and served as a combat paramedic in an elite army unit.
Following the military, he spent months traveling the world, and once he had returned to Israel, he decided to volunteer at the Jerusalem hospital. “It felt like the natural thing to do was volunteer and help in this country that I love, and particularly in the time of crisis,” he says.
Einat Ben-Yashar, 27, who also served as a combat paramedic in the Israeli Navy, also chose to volunteer during the first infection wave. “They were recruiting paramedics and it seemed like an excellent opportunity to support our national effort and it also was clear to me that bringing paramedics to work in a hospital setting was a smart move. I wanted to be able to learn and be exposed to the medical field beyond the urgent and intensive care units that I was already familiar with.”
Idan and Einat met during long hours of hard work in the ward. “Our first date took place just outside of the hospital,” they recall with a laughter.
They got to know each other while caring for patients – primarily the elderly who made up the majority of serious coronavirus cases at the time.
“I definitely was worried a bit at the beginning of the pandemic because we didn’t yet really know much about COVID and there was a good deal of uncertainty," says Einat.
"I lived in an apartment in the Nachalaot neighborhood in central Jerusalem and couldn’t see my parents or grandparents, but it was so important to have the chance to be helping the patients.”
The young couple recently tied the knot and they are both planning to pursue careers in medicine. Einat is in her second year of medical school, while Idan is scheduled to begin his medical school program next year.