In May Israel’s President, Reuven Rivlin visited the recently rebuilt Cerebral Catheterization Unit, pioneered 20 years ago, at Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem.
President Rivlin was hosted by Hadassah Director-General Prof. Zeev Rotstein, together with Prof. Jose Cohen, the unit’s director; Prof. Moshe Gomori, head of the Brain Catheterization Imaging Department; and head nurse Siam Masarwa Shibli. Impressed by Hadassah’s capabilities, the president told his hosts, “A patient who comes to Hadassah following a stroke will receive the most advanced and rapid treatment. I have no doubt that every patient will be in the best of hands, with a team of professionals.”
Hadassah’s unit, the flagship of the brain catheterization units that followed, is filled with the most advanced catheterization equipment, made possible by support from USAID’s Office of American Schools and Hospitals Abroad (USAID/ASHA).
The Hadassah staff members demonstrated to President Rivlin how the new advanced systems allow Hadassah’s specialists to handle the most complex cases, within a very narrow window of time. They explained how patients arriving by ambulance are taken directly to the Cerebral Catheterization Unit.
“When I immigrated to Israel from Argentina, I had only one goal in mind,” Prof. Cohen told the president, “and that was the establishment of the first cerebral catheterization unit in Israel. I knew it would only happen at Hadassah.” He added, “I am a well-known Zionist. I have been fulfilling the vision for 20 years, and here we are again re-establishing this unit, to the glory of the State of Israel.”
Prof. Rotstein clarified for the president that only Hadassah provides a comprehensive response to stroke patients all over the country, making Jerusalem the capital for brain catheterization in Israel.
“Just this week,” Prof. Cohen relates, “I assisted hospitals in cities under massive rocket fire to have their patients transferred by helicopter to Hadassah for emergency cerebral catheterizations. Patients from all over the country want to come to Hadassah for a consultation and to receive life-saving treatment.”
Below you can find pictures from President’s Rivlin’s visit:
