Press Release: Hadassah’s Vision for Living Through and After the COVID-19 Crisis

COVID-19COVID-19 Global Crisis Response TeamHadassah HospitalHadassah InternationalMedia

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Jorge Diener
Associate Director
Hadassah International
Mobile: +972-50-2569697
www.hadassah-international.org

 

Hadassah’s Vision for Living Through and After the COVID-19

Crisis is Shared with an International Audience

 

Under the auspices of Hadassah International, over 200 Hadassah leaders from 25 countries around the world participated in a virtual meeting with Prof. Ze’ev Rotstein, Director General of the Hadassah Medical Organization (HMO), to learn about the groundbreaking lifesaving innovations that have been taken at the Hadassah Hospitals to battle the Coronavirus in Jerusalem.

Hadassah’s pioneering model and innovations in hospital facility preparation and care have become the gold standard for dealing with COVID-19 in Israel, with the major hospitals across the country replicating what Hadassah has instituted.

Rotstein stated that “Hadassah’s founder, Henrietta Szold, taught Hadassah to dare to dream big. That is what the Hadassah Hospitals did in this COVID-19 crisis, and it paid off in saving lives. Sometimes even snatching the patients from the jaws of the angel of death.”

 

Hadassah assisting the global network of hospitals and communities fighting COVID-19

Hadassah is the leading hospital in Israel in medical care and research related to COVID -19 and an international leader in the fight against the coronavirus.

With the publication of the Hadassah Manual of Protocols for COVID-19 in English, Spanish and Russian, Hadassah International is now able to share the lessons Hadassah has learned across the globe to save lives and mitigate the impact of the coronavirus as the pandemic has spread.

Prof Rotstein informed the webinar audience that the Hadassah model for defeating COVID-19 includes:

  • Coronavirus patients need to be separated from the general hospital population so that they can receive specialized care in a safe environment where they will not infect others. To this end, Hadassah took the old Round Building at the Ein Kerem Hospital that was under renovation and used it as a specialized facility with five COVID-19 departments, including two Intensive Care Units. The rest of the hospital thus remained safe for all other procedures, including births. The Hadassah Hospital at Mount Scopus has received no COVID-19 patients and was able to continue as a normal hospital.
  • Testing for the disease is vital, to reassure both the staff, the patients, and the population at large. Hadassah, together with the Hebrew University, have set up extensive testing facilities and labs that now serve the whole country and the Palestinian Authority.
  • Your staff are your soldiers in this battle. Hadassah has been a pioneer in keeping its medical teams healthy. Every member of the staff is tested frequently, ensuring that they do not infect anyone else in the hospital or at home. This has led to very high moral at the hospital.
  • Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is crucial. Hadassah procured full protective gear for everyone working with COVID-19 patients. It also procured ventilators and other sophisticated equipment. Hadassah also produces Hadassol, a hand sanitizer that is now supplied to hospitals and institutions across Israel.

 

Hadassah’s Global network assisting the Hadassah Hospitals

Hadassah, while continuing to save lives in this current wave of the pandemic is preparing for the next wave of COVIS-19 that is expected in the fall and winter.

The renovation of the Round Building at Ein Kerem is urgent. It needs to be completed quickly with 200 extra beds added so that Hadassah Ein Kerem can continue to treat all those who need care for regular ailments while continuing to treat COVID-19 patients at the same time.

Hadassah Hospitals require a major investment to keep playing their leading role in healing the people of Jerusalem, Israel, and the world.

Hadassah International is extremely proud of what Hadassah has done to combat COVID-19. It is asking philanthropically minded individuals and Foundations to support this renovation and help the Hadassah Medical Center as it continues its strategy to save the lives of the diverse ethnic populations impacted by COVID-19 in Jerusalem and around the world.

For more information about the Hadassah International crisis response TOGETHER WE LIVE, please go to https://hadassah-global-response.org/