Dr. Polly Lieberman
Dr. Polly Lieberman’s (Cohen) roots are from Bulgaria where she received her early education and grew up full of imagination, creativeness and love of learning.
She graduated in medicine from Hadassa Medical School in Jerusalem and specialized in anaesthesia at the Rambam Hospital.
Polly experienced unique opportunity, spending two and a half years in Liberia in West Africa, as the only anaesthesiologist in this country. Her task was to organize the anaesthesia services, to work in more than one hospital and to teach a group of medical staff to continue the work after her leaving. That was one of the most exciting periods of her life.
Later, Polly joined the University Hospital in Pittsburgh in order to specialize in Critical Care Medicine and Intensive Care which became her favorite subject.
With her return to Israel, Dr. Lieberman established the General Intensive Care unit at the Sheba Medical Center in Tel- Hashomer- a Unit which she directed for many years until her retirement.
Simultaneously Polly began to organize a pain- clinic introducing acupuncture treatment in hospital conditions and also in outpatient volunteer’s clinic.
Close to her retirement Polly studied and obtained a degree in Interior Design, which she is practicing till today.
Creative imagination in conjunction with her “golden hands” always added a special coloring to her life- full of so many doings: sowing and painting through minor carpentry and many more, which scarcely squeezed in between medicine and raising of two children.
Among Polly’s great ”Passions” stands the love of recycling and the drive to create everything from everything, to give a new form, a different face (even prettier one), to provide another or a different existence to things which their final destination would be the waste basket – Just as Imanuel Bar Kadma said: “She turns every stone to a gem stone”.
Polly presented her works in her recycling exhibition that took place in Tel Aviv at Amalia Arbel’s Gallery on January 2009 (attached below are some pictures from the exhibition).
In addition to Polly’s activity, she translated a children’s book and drew every single page in it. The book, which was a part of her childhood, was written by Elin Pelin, one of the greatest writers of children’s books in her home country- Bulgaria.
The book tells a story of the unbelievable adventures of a boy named Ian Bibian and Polly dedicated it to her small grandchildren as in Polly’s eyes it is one more way to connect her childhood with theirs.