A woman in her 30s named Stav, who had given birth to her third child just a week earlier, went to a Clalit clinic in Jerusalem’s Kiryat Moshe neighborhood with severe breast pain and concern about mastitis from breastfeeding. During the routine visit, nurse Zehavit Gabay noticed that Stav’s face was not symmetrical, especially around one eye and the corner of her mouth, even though Stav had not complained of any neurological symptoms.
Gabay asked Stav to look in a mirror and smile, then alerted the clinic’s nursing manager, Rina. The staff quickly sent her to the family doctor, who referred her to the emergency room with suspected Bell’s palsy. Hospital doctors confirmed the diagnosis and began immediate treatment. Stav said, “They told me I arrived in time,” adding that if the nurse had not noticed the signs, the diagnosis could have been significantly delayed.
Stav said that in the first week after childbirth she was focused on her baby, breastfeeding and lack of sleep, and would not likely have noticed the facial change herself. Her husband praised Gabay for not only seeing something unusual but also stopping to check, consult and act. Gabay later called Stav two days after the incident, and Stav had already started treatment and thanked the clinic team.
Dr. Hatzfiva Zer Aviv, a family physician at Clalit’s Jerusalem district, explained that Bell’s palsy is caused by inflammation and swelling of the facial nerve, which can compress it and lead to temporary weakness or paralysis on one side of the face. She said the exact cause is not always known, but it is often linked to a viral infection or immune-system changes, and the postpartum period may increase risk because of hormonal and physical changes, fatigue, stress and reduced immune resilience. She stressed that early treatment, especially in the first days after symptoms appear, greatly improves the chance of full recovery.
