Jewish doctors wear Florence Nightingale masks to mark her 200th birthday

Top Jewish doctors put on Florence Nightingale facemarks to mark the 200th anniversary of her birth, and pay tribute to nurses battling Covid-19.

Lord Robert Winston, Dr Adam Kay and Dr Ellie Cannon were among those modelling specially-made face coverings this week.

The initiative honours Nightingale, born on 12 May 1820, who is widely seen as the founder of modern nursing.

It is part of a series of masks designed by British-Israeli artist Ron Arad, in collaboration with the Ostro Fayre Share Foundation.

The project seeks to raise money for frontline health workers, and has been endorsed by celebrities including Stephen Fry, Natasha Kaplinsky and Robert Peston, as well as chaplains at Nightingale London, Rabbi Akiva and Batya Rosenblatt, Rabbi Stanley Coten, and Great Ormond Street Hospital’s Rabbi Alan Wilkinson.

Ron Arad said: “I am awed by the hard work and compassion that nurses across the country have demonstrated, and I am pleased to be able to use these face coverings to show my appreciation, as well as raise a smile.”

British-Jewish philanthropist Maurice Ostro, Chair of the Ostro Fayre Share Foundation, said nurses have “risen to an extraordinary challenge” during the pandemic, and “their steadfast determination, dignity and professionalism..are traits that Florence Nightingale would recognise and be enormously proud of.”