GalleryMother’s Milk Room Dedicated in NICU After Son Sails Atlantic for Shaare Zedek
The Paull family, of the United Kingdom and California, have dedicated a Mother’s Milk Room in Shaare Zedek Medical Center’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) to honor the memory of their late mother, Ruth bat Zvi z”l. Several months ago, one of the brothers, Jonathan, of England, actually sailed from the Canary Islands to the West Indies to raise money for the project. The trip would take most people a little more than 12 hours by air, but his voyage across the Atlantic with a
crew of three — over 2800 nautical miles — took three weeks. With the “Great Atlantic Challenge” behind him, Jonathan, and his brother Gideon, of Northridge, CA, and their families, including their mother’s brother, recently gathered at the NICU for the dedication.
“To save a life is to save the world,” Jonathan shared, and “nowhere is this clearer every day so many times a day then at Shaare Zedek, a hospital not just with a heart but with a soul that makes the world a better place. Shaare Zedek Hospital in Jerusalem is a very special place, but until I experienced it first-hand I had little idea of just how incredible and special a hospital can be.”
When their mother arrived at Shaare Zedek in 2013 she had late stage Parkinson’s disease and was suffering from severe pneumonia and complications of Parkinson’s. Jonathan was amazed by the treatment his mother received. “You see, Shaare Zedek treats every patient of whatever age, color or creed from across Israel, the West Bank, Gaza and elsewhere in the Middle East, on the basis that every single life is valuable,” he said. “No distinction is made between the patient who is young with years ahead and one more >
GalleryWhy Shaare Zedek’s new Stroke Unit, Brain Center urgently needed in Jerusalem
Advanced new services becoming available at Shaare Zedek for patients who experience a minor stroke or temporary ischemic attack (TIA) are the inaugural aspects of the Hospital’s “Brain Center,” a comprehensive neurology institute which, when fully rolled out, will house Jerusalem’s new Stroke Unit to diagnose, treat and monitor patients who suffer strokes, as well as trauma in terror attacks or accidents, brain tumors and other acute neurological conditions. It will be comprised of an Interventional Neuroradiology Unit, the Stroke Diagnosis and Treatment Unit, and a Department of Neurosurgery.
There is said to be “a golden hour” in which to save victims of serious trauma. Following a stroke, however, the difference between life, serious impairment and death are measured in minutes. For every minute elapsed from onset until appropriate care, the patient’s brain loses approximately two million neurons. The extent of preventable damage is similarly measured: the chance of surviving without disability shrinks 14% every 10 minutes from onset until care. And internationally-recognized data estimate a new stroke unit in the fast-growing Jerusalem area could expect to see over 2,000 stroke patients each year.
The Interventional Neuroradiology Unit will incorporate all necessary components to help people suffering serious neurological episodes. Minimally invasive image-based technologies will speed diagnosis and locate a clot or bleed in the brain. For some patients, a drug called TPA can dissolve a clot and reduce damage if administered within three to four hours of onset of the stroke.
The Stroke Diagnosis and Inpatient Unit will include six beds equipped and staffed as a Neurological ICU with physicians and nurses specifically trained in the care of stroke victims. Many patients may require lengthy hospitalizations and intensive monitoring. Within the Stroke Unit, there will be more >
Head ER Nurse Naama Bagrish Receives National Honor for Excellence
Naama Bagrish, Head Nurse of the Emergency Medicine Department, was recently awarded Yedioth Ahronoth’s Annual National Prize for Outstanding Worker in the field of Services.
Naama has more than 20 years of Emergency Room experience and manages a staff of 80. She begins her workday each morning at 5:50 AM by getting to know each patient in the emergency room and their specific needs. Naama shared, “As a nurse, I feel a sense of mission. Working in the ER is very fulfilling. I like the fast pace, the diversity of the patients and the staff. I like figuring out what is happening with each patient and providing each patient and their family with what they need.”
“Naama instills in her staff the vision of Nursing Management at Shaare Zedek,” the newspaper wrote, “To be professional and human and to stay close to the patient…Pleasant and lovely, she agreeably and modestly helps with everything and constantly emphasizes that an excellent manager cannot succeed without an excellent staff.”
At the award ceremony, President Ruvi Rivlin quoted Martin Luther King, “If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry…” President Rivlin shared, “Striving for excellence…is the desire to do as much as possible, to innovate, to create, develop, contribute to raise the bar and to set an example…”
Photos by Ohad Tzveigenberg/Yediot Aharonoth
This item appeared in the Summer 2016 edition of Heartbeat, the bi-annual publication of The American Committee for Shaare Zedek Medical Center. To join our mailing list please send your email and address to national@acsz.org.
GalleryThe Hospital Kids Don’t Want to Leave: The Friedman Family Outpatient Pavilion of the Wilf Children’s Hospital at Shaare Zedek
Many of Tzippora Notis’s friends have married daughters who now have their own families. From time to time one of those young mothers will call her and no matter whom it is on the other end of the phone, Mrs. Notis says, the conversation nearly always sounds the same.
”I just want you to know that we had a medical situation that brought us to the outpatient clinics at Shaare Zedek,” the caller will say, ”And we saw your father’s name there. Could you please pass on to him what an unbelievable experience it was?”
It is the Friedman Family Outpatient Pavilion of the Wilf Children’s Hospital at Shaare Zedek Medical Center to which she refers — a generous gift to the people of Jerusalem by Mrs. Notis’ parents, Lea and Rabbi Jacob Friedman, of Los Angeles.
If only no child would ever need hospital care. Sadly, that’s not how life works, but in Jerusalem today, children are able to receive their necessary treatments in a setting that is so warm, and so loving, and just plain fun to visit, that they actually don’t want to leave. That may sound farfetched unless you know that the recently opened Wilf Children’s Hospital is a vibrant, brightly colored place with a music room, an art room, a veritable zoo of therapy animals that patients can hold and feed, and even a tablet computer at every bed, available for children to use at no charge.
But, particularly, it is the Friedman Family Outpatient Pavilion that has “changed the whole way that children look at going in for whatever treatments they have to go in for,” Mrs. Notis explained. “Just trying to get them to the Hospital — the crying and the more >
GalleryHot Off the Press — Heartbeat for Summer ’16
Watch your mail for the Summer 2016 issue of our Heartbeat Magazine. If you’re on our ‘snail mail’ list, that is. Otherwise, please email national@acsz.org with your full name and address.
GallerySummer in Israel Sharpens Scorpion Risk
Summer is here and people are spending more time outside — which makes this a good time to be aware that scorpions tend to “hide” in thick brush and in dark and isolated areas. It is recommended to wear gloves when working in the garden and closed shoes when walking around at night, outside, in areas with thick vegetation. While camping, it is better not to sleep directly on the ground and remember to shake out your shoes before putting them on.
“Scorpions can be divided into two types, black and yellow scorpions,” explains Dr. Todd Zalut, director of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Shaare Zedek. “All bites can cause allergic reactions. While the bite from a black scorpion hurts a lot, the yellow scorpion has poisonous venom. People stung by a yellow scorpion may experience pain, swelling, tingling or numbness around the area of the bite. The person may have difficulty swallowing, blurred vision, roving eye movements, seizures, nausea, vomiting, respiratory distress, or agitation… Antivenom is one treatment option, however, it is only used in very severe cases since there is a potential for serious side effects.”
If you are stung by either type of scorpion please be sure to seek immediate medical attention. Have a safe and enjoyable summer.
GalleryCelebrating Israel On Fifth Avenue and On The Air
So maybe it was a little wet (though the heaviest rain came and went during the first half hour of the parade), but thousands of people marched up New York City’s Fifth Avenue anyway in the 2016 Celebrate Israel Parade on June 5, which this year coincided with Yom Yerushalayim — the 49th anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem during the Six-Day War. Many more thousands of Israel’s most passionate supporters lined Fifth Avenue to watch them. American Committee for Shaare Zedek Medical Center was well-represented, both on our float and to listeners around the world who were able to see and hear the sights and sounds of the parade on the Nachum Segal Network. American Committee was the presenting sponsor of live coverage of the parade, anchored from start to finish by Nachum Segal, the internationally-known host of Jewish radio program JM in the AM, and Miriam L. Wallach, general manager of The Nachum Segal Network. American Committee CEO Rachel Wolf joined them in the broadcast booth at Fifth Avenue and 65th Street, near the entrance to the Central Park Zoo, for more than an hour, early in the parade.
Other guests on the program included the inspiring Racheli Frenkel, mother of one of three Israeli teens whose disappearance brought Israelis and Jews all around the world together in shared worry, then grief two summers ago (listen to her appearance here); as well as many notable political and Jewish communal leaders. Enjoy a full gallery of photos from Fifth Avenue here.
GalleryShaare Zedek Opening Stroke Unit, Comprehensive Institute of Neurology
Fifteen-thousand Israelis suffer a stroke each year more >
GalleryVOTE To Help Shaare Zedek Win $2m in ESPN’s Basketball Tournament
Click here to vote for Shaare Zedek!
You could help us win $2,000,000, and you could win $2,000!
Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem fields a world-class, lifesaving ‘dream team’ every day, but members of Shaare Zedek’s newest dream team didn’t go to medical school. Instead, they honed their own considerable skills on professional and college basketball courts around the world.
The American Committee for Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem is proud to participate in this year’s The Basketball Tournament on ESPN, and will compete for a winner-take-all $2 million cash prize. In accordance with the rules of the competition, Shaare Zedek has drafted an outstanding team including players who were very successful in the NBA, the Euro League and top-rated college programs. The rules also allow for fan participation, and for teams to advance in the competition based, in part, on how many fans they have signed up online by July 1, 2016.
Members of Team Shaare Zedek include captain David Blu, a 6’7” Maccabi Tel Aviv star who was a starter at USC from his sophomore year; Australian Cory Reader, 7’0”, who played professional ball for nine years including a stint with the LA Clippers; Chidi Ajufo, 6’6”, who starred for the Amstetten Falcons in Austria, the Essex Pirates in the UK, and S.C. Fukinese in Hong Kong; 6’1” Shawn Weinstein, who played for Elitzur Maccabi Netanya, as well as Talk-n-Text Tropang Texters in the Philippines; Jean Baptiste Rugiero, who played for Les Canonizers de Sainte-Marie Metz in France; and Bracin Skywalker, an Olympic hopeful who plays in the JBL National Pro-Am Basketball League on a team sponsored by LA Laker Metta World Peace. Two world-class businessmen who are also talented basketball players are also competing on more >