As we inch closer to Passover, we take a look at how Hadassah is responding to the growing COVID-19 crisis. It may surprise you to learn that Hadassah has been appointed the Central Virology Laboratory of the State of Israel.
Its resourcefulness is also on display with the use of robots to collect and neutralise biological materials. We also look at the human side of the virus through the eyes of a coronavirus patient.
Hadassah, Israel’s oldest and most revered hospital, is playing a vital role in protecting the health and wellbeing of every Israeli during this unprecedented pandemic.
Over the course of a century it has been there for the community in good times and bad. As 'the people's hospital', it is leading the fight to defeat this insidious enemy.
Read more
“There are moments here at Hadassah Ein Kerem when words are unnecessary," said Senior Emergency Room Physician Dr Ahmad Naama.
"Some are harder, others more optimistic."
A touching note written by Dr Naama while working on the frontline reminds us of the important role we must all play in fighting the battle against coronavirus.
We’re here for the State of Israel,” said Hadassah Hospital Director General Professor Zeev Rotstein.
"We are determined to do our part to save Israel's health system."
“Hadassah is working overtime to meet the enormous challenges. Each of us has the power to give hope."
Matan Alon, 41, is a married father of three. After returning to Israel from a week skiing in Austria, he found himself in the coronavirus ward at Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem.
"To say it was surreal is an understatement," he said.
“I was hospitalised by order of the Health Ministry. I’m the first person who entered the [special corona] ward. I opened the unit. I was alone, but not for long."Read more
Dr Momen Abassi has an unusual bedside manner. As an internist focusing on paediatric nephrology at Hadassah Hospital, Dr Abbasi has found a creative way to explain his procedures to young patients.
The 29-year-old has turned his love of cartoons into education tools, often drawing pictures of anthropomorphic kidneys and dialysis machines.
“I find these useful when I show children and adults so they know precisely what’s going to happen," he said.
In late 2019, Hadassah Australia teamed up with UIA-Keren Hayesod to support a ground-breaking program aimed at helping Israel’s marginalised Ethiopian community.
Sixty-seven Ethiopian Israeli students are now in various stages of their undergraduate studies, helping to address a critical shortage of academically-qualified nurses in Israel.
Judy Lowy, a native of Britain who has been a driving force behind the program, sent Hadassah Australia a sobering update about the impact of the coronavirus on their studies.
Goshen, a joint initiative of Hadassah Hospital and Hadassah Australia, is playing an important and ongoing role in helping parents to navigate the coronavirus crisis by providing advice to families on how to face the challenge of ‘forced’ and ‘unplanned’ freedom during these trying times.
This is another example of Australia-Israeli cooperation to support our most vulnerable citizens.
Having taken over as Director of Hadassah Mt Scopus in late 2017, Dr Tamar Elram is overseeing construction of the new rehabilitation centre that will provide critical care rehabilitation services including much needed therapy for disabled IDF soldiers and veterans with spinal cord and multiple traumas.
“We must remember that the COVID-19 crisis will be over, hopefully quite soon, and we must keep on planning the future for Hadassah Mt Scopus and the people of Jerusalem.”
Hadassah is a globally-renowned centre for innovative hospital-based research, well ahead of all other hospitals in Israel.
The breadth of that research is remarkable, occurring in almost every corner of medical science.
We reveal two examples that provide an insight into the impact of that work, and their potential to change lives in Israel and around the world.
The Second International Conference on Trauma and Mental Health planned for later this year at Hadassah Hospital has been postponed, falling victim to the coronavirus.
The new dates are 29-31 August, 2021.
Keep safe and keep your spirits up. We look forward to a future – post-COVID-19 – of reinvigorated work reflecting our passionate commitment to build a better hospital and community resource for the benefit of all the people of Israel.