Hadassah Medical Center

Infobox Hospital
Name = Hadassah Medical Center
Org/Group =

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Caption = Hadassah on the Hill in Ein Kerem
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latitude =
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Location = Jerusalem
Region =
State =
Country = Israel
Coordinates = coord|31|47|50|N|35|14|31|E|display=title
HealthCare =
Type = Teaching
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Standards =
Emergency = III
Affiliation = Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Beds = 1000
Founded = 1934
Closed =
Website = http://www.hadassah.org.il
Wiki-Links = |

Hadassah Medical Center ( _he. מרכז רפואי הדסה) includes two University hospitals at Ein Kerem and Mount Scopus in Jerusalem, Israel, as well as schools of medicine, dentistry, nursing, and pharmacology affiliated with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and outpatient clinics at Bikur Holim Hospital and the Malha Technology Centre, as well as in Tel Aviv. The Center was founded and is partially funded by Hadassah, the Women's Zionist Organization of America. It also operates a private medical consulting firm as well as a Biotechnology development business.

In 2005, the Center was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize due to its equality in treatment, its ethnic and religious diversity, and its efforts to build bridges to peace. [cite web|url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3060873,00.html| title=Local hospitals up for Nobel Prize| publidher=Ynet| last=Sheffer| first=Doron| date=2005-03-20| accessdate=2007-09-15]

A hospital of the same name also exists in Safed. Hadassah's first hospital, also referred to as "Hadassah Hospital", was founded in Hebron, but ceased to function after the 1929 Hebron Massacre. The building is now known as "Beit Hadassah", and is populated by Israeli settlers there. [ [http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/beit_hadassah.html Beit Hadassah] Jewish Virtual Library]

Hadassah Medical Organization

In 1937 the (British Royal Commission also known as the) Peel Commission had this praise for Hadassah:

The Hadassah Medical Organization has developed a widespread system of clinics in Jewish centres and hospitals in the principal towns and, pari pasu with the creation of similar services by the government, a school medical service, including an opthalmogical service and a widepread infant welfare service. Though naurally the Jewish population benefitted most, the Hadassah medical services were available to all the communities in Palestine and many of the poorer classes amongst th Arabs received much asistance from the work of the organization. This disinterested philantropy of Hadassah deserves recognition: it was a real step towards the promotion of good feeling between the two races; but unhappily the effect of its work was impaired by other influeces. As the rift widened, the Arabs attendance at Jewish hosptials and clinics became less and less". [ Peel Commission report, July 1937, chapter 12, page 312 (paragraph 5)]

Mount Scopus campus

The cornerstone for the Hadassah hospital on Mount Scopus was laid in 1934. After five years of construction, the complex, designed by architect Erich Mendelsohn, opened its doors in 1939.

In March 1947, the leader of the Arab Forces in Jerusalem, Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni, threatened to blow up the hospital. He did not carry this threat through, but attacks were carried out on traffic to and from the complex. On the 13th of April, 1948, an armoured convoy of doctors, nurses, medical students, and other staff made its way to the hospital. The group was ambushed, and 77 of its members were killed in what has become known as the Hadassah medical convoy massacre (generally considered to be retaliation for the Deir Yassin massacre two days earlier). After that harsh blow to its functional capability and morale, the hospital wound down operations until it was eventually closed. In the 1949 armistice with Jordan, Mount Scopus became a demilitarized enclave, and the facility was ultimately reopened in Ein Kerem, in Israeli controlled Jerusalem.

As a result of the 1967 Six-Day War Jerusalem was reunited, and after a period of extensive renovation, Hadassah hospital on Mount Scopus was reopened in 1975. With over 300 beds and 30 departments and clinics, the hospital is the best equipped serving the northern and eastern neighborhoods of Jerusalem, a fact attested to by the large percentage of patients coming from the Arab neighbourhoods of East Jerusalem.

Ein Kerem campus

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For 13 years, medical care was provided out of temporary sites throughout the city after access was lost to the Mount Scopus campus. In 1961, construction of a large and modern medical complex was completed adjacent to Ein Karem, a garden suburb in south-western Jerusalem. The Hadassah Women's Zionist Organization of America again assisted with funding, and the somewhat out-of-the-way location was chosen in part because an appropriate site was difficult to obtain in the city-center, and Hadassah owned a large plot in Ein Kerem. Today the hospital accommodates 700 beds. It contains 130 departments and clinics in 22 different buildings. The hospital complex also includes the Hebrew University of Jerusalem schools of medicine, dentistry, nursing, public health, and pharmacology, as well as many modern research laboratories. It is currently the largest and most modern hospital in Jerusalem, and provides many specialized services in complement to those offered on Mount Scopus.

The campus synagogue is famous for its stained glass windows depicting the twelve tribes of Israel, created and donated in 1960 by Marc Chagall.

Hadassah's director is Professor Shlomo Mor-Yosef. Prominent physicians include Dr. Avraham Rivkind, founder and director of the hospital's trauma center, Dr. Ahmed Eid, head of the liver and kidney transplant unit, and Knesset Member Dr. Arie Eldad, head of the department of plastic surgery and burns unit and American Burns Treatment Association "Evans Award" recipient.

In March 2007 Jewish American billionaire William Davidson donated $75 million dollars to the hospital. [cite web|url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3372318,00.html| title=American Jewish businessman donates $75 million to Jerusalem hospital| date=2007-04-03| accessdate=2007-09-15| publisher=Ynet]

References

Bibliography

* "Encyclopedia Americana" (2003), ISBN 0-7172-0136-8
* "Jerusalem Diarist: Ward of the State," "New Republic" April 10, 2006.
* "O Jerusalem" by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre

ee also

* List of hospitals in Israel

External links

* [http://www.hadassah.org.il/English/Eng_MainNavBar/About/Art+at+Hadassah/default.htm Chagall windows]