Jerusalem’s first rehabilitation center meant for treating war wounded – covering eight stories and costing NIS 500 million – opened on Wednesday at the Hadassah Medical Center on Mount Scopus. Although it had been planned for years, its completion and equipping were speeded up due to the urgent needs created by the Gaza war.
Covering an area of 30,000 square meters, it greatly expanded the old rehab center, which had only 40 inpatient beds. Now the facility will be able to accommodate the rehabilitate patients in 140 inpatient beds plus 250 daycare patients.
It is located on the grounds of the existing hospital building, but the entrance is separate and allows patients and visitors to come directly to the center. Like the old center, it will also receive civilian patients after accidents, head injuries, or complex surgeries.
Later, additional departments will open with a focus on other areas of rehabilitation, such as neurological, orthopedic, geriatric, and more.
“This is really good news for the entire State of Israel. The center will, of course, offer rehabilitative treatments for the entire population. Everyone will receive personally tailored treatment using advanced physiotherapy and occupational therapy treatments, swimming, and exercises with smart equipment, ” said Hadassah Medical Organization (HMO) director-general Prof. Yoram Weiss. “
The new Gandel Rehabilitation Center after large-scale fundraising by Hadassah – Women's Zionist Organization of America (HWZOA) and Hadassah International.
Widespread support for the new center
It includes a therapeutic swimming pool with a modular floor that adjusts according to the patient's needs, advanced cranes for moving the injured, computerized systems for measuring the range of motion, and an advanced walking laboratory.
The center is named for John and Pauline Gandel from Melbourne, Australia, who head the Gandel Foundation and are the center’s major donors.
“We have added hundreds of rehabilitation hospital beds at a time when there is a significant shortage in Israel for the rehabilitation of the war wounded. We have given our patients rehabilitation options, using the most advanced technologies in the field that combine physical and emotional therapy, for the first time in Israel. He added that fundraising is ongoing so as to make the entire center operation,” Weiss continued.
The new center is a national project initiated by the HMO board of directors’ chair and former Knesset speaker Dalia Itzik with budgetary support from the state. “The opening of the first ward at the rehabilitation center is nothing less than a national event that will change the rehabilitation map in Israel,” she said.
“A few years ago, when it was brought to my attention that Jerusalemites travel far to undergo rehabilitation, I decided it would be our mission to establish a rehabilitation center that would operate at the highest standards. The first phase was launched today, and our patients are receiving the best care, with a professional team that boasts impressive tools to ensure patients progress towards a return to the life they knew prior to their injury.”
HWZOA’s new president, Carol Ann Schwartz, concluded that “the need to establish a new and advanced rehabilitation center in Jerusalem has existed for a long time, and we have worked for years to create it. This need became paramount in light of the war.”