While holding on tight to eternal Jewish values Jerusalem's
Bikur Cholim hospital has bridged almost two centuries since
concerned talmidei chachomim started taking care of the
Old City's ill in a few rented rooms. Poverty and illness
were rampant then with only the missionary hospitals to turn
to for treatment.
But Bikur Cholim, Israel's oldest hospital, has never been in
better shape than it is today.
With its imposing external heavy walls, Bikur Cholim might
impress the outsider as an old fashioned institution. Nothing
is further from the truth.
Its board of directors, led by Rabbi Menachem Porush,
recently decided to give Bikur Cholim a serious face lift.
Virtually all departments are emerging from under the
workers' hands as completely new.
Modern furnishings, light and air are making Bikur Cholim
into one of Israel's nicest medical institutions. But beauty
alone does not attract people in need of medical help. "Even
though Bikur Cholim has always kept up with the most modern
medical technology and equipment, the hospital is trying to
reach even further now," says public relations director Akiva
Holzer. "Our Cardiology Department has attracted rabbis,
admorim, politicians and many public figures because of its
professional excellence. Now Bikur Cholim is spearheading
medical research aimed at treating heart disease much more
effectively. Professor Andrei Keren, head of the department,
is organizing Israel's national bank for genetically defined
cardiological data, while professor Ben Horin is focusing on
the genetically-related causes of sudden death, which will be
of tremendous importance in treating heart disease. Both are
in close contact with major researchers elsewhere in the
world."
Needless to say, also this department will undergo major
renovations. The cardiac Institute will move across Strauss
Street while the Cardiac ward will be greatly enlarged and
modernized. Work should be finished, G-d willing, around next
winter.
Other departments as well are leaders in their field. "Bikur
Cholim was the first hospital in Israel to start an intensive
care unit for newborn babies. Today one can barely find a
hospital without such a unit. But some 35 years ago when
professor Rena Gil urged hospital director Joseph Cohen to go
along with her plans for a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
(NICU), the it was nothing less than medical pioneering in
Israel."
In a few months Professor Gil will open the new NICU, after
the regular nursery has already moved to its new premises.
The maternity ward is being completely redone, while Bikur
Cholim's Gynecological Department still caters to those in
need of special care, 100 percent according to halocho. A few
weeks from now Bikur Cholim's Emergency Center on Nevi'im
Street, the only such facility located in the center of
Jerusalem, will also be completed. The day after Shavuos,
Sunday the 8th of Sivan, the hospital will host a major
affair for those who have contributed to this very-much-
needed project.
"The costs were enormous," says Mr. Holzer. "We owe a debt of
gratitude to the British Friends of Bikur Cholim who have
contributed some 40 percent of the renovations."
The special evening will be attended by Chief Rabbi Israel
Meir Lau and Chief Rabbi Eliyahu Bakshi Doron, ministers
Shimon Peres and Shlomo Benizri, Jerusalem mayor Ehud Olmert
and many other functionaries.
Israel entertainer Motti Giladi has a warm feeling in his
heart for this exceptional hospital. "The importance of Bikur
Cholim as a central Emergency Room was emphasized when
Jerusalem was struck by the horrible terror attacks several
years ago. Peoples' lives were saved by the fact that within
minutes after the explosions they received treatment in Bikur
Cholim's then-small emergency room," he said.
The new Emergency Center will contain a Shock Room while the
Clalit Health Fund will operate a Late Hours Medical Service.
"Bikur Cholim has many other plans for the near future," says
Mr. Holzer. "We have come so far in those 174 years. We have
struggled with cholera, wars, shortages while guarding our
precious Jewish identity. With Hashem's help we will be able
to accomplish even more to help Jerusalem's sick to a full
recovery."
