The new Gandel Rehabilitation Center, inaugurated at Hadassah Mount Scopus following a large-scale fundraising campaign by Hadassah International, includes a therapeutic pool with a modular floor that adjusts to patient needs, advanced cranes for moving injured patients, computerized systems to measure range of motion, and an advanced walking laboratory. The center, estimated to cost 500 million NIS, opened its first department dedicated to treating war injuries in the south during a time of conflict. Weeks later, additional departments were added, and the center now treats hundreds of patients of all ages needing orthopedic, neurological, and other rehabilitation services.

Hadassah Medical Organization Director, Professor Yoram Weiss, explained, "We made history and did justice to the population of Jerusalem and the entire country. We have added hundreds of hospital beds for rehabilitation at a time when there is a significant shortage in Israel for war-injured rehabilitation, providing our patients with the most advanced rehabilitation technologies combining physical and emotional therapy, now operating for the first time in Israel."

The new center was inaugurated after a large-scale fundraising effort by Hadassah, The Women's Zionist  Organization of America and Hadassah International, with its cost estimated at 500 million NIS. The center is named after John and Pauline Gandel from Melbourne, Australia, who made significant donations through the Gandel Foundation.

Carol Ann Schwartz, President of Hadassah, The Women's Zionist  Organization of America, noted, "The need to establish a new, advanced rehabilitation center in Jerusalem has existed for a long time, and we have worked for years to establish it. This need became essential and immediate after the war, for many soldiers and citizens of Israel."

The Gandel Rehabilitation Center at Hadassah Mount Scopus provides a critical response at this time, made possible by the fundraising efforts of Hadassah International and Hadassah, The Women's Zionist  Organization of America. This effort is part of the organization's 112-year commitment to the State of Israel and Jerusalem in particular.

Dalia Itzik, President of the Hadassah Medical Organization Board of Directors, stated, "Today we made history." She emphasized that the opening of the first department of the rehabilitation center is a national event that will change the rehabilitation landscape in Israel. Recognizing the need for rehabilitation beds and an advanced center in Israel, particularly in Jerusalem, Hadassah began construction of the center years before the outbreak of the "Iron Swords" war.

Professor Weiss highlighted the importance of understanding that each injured person requires long-term rehabilitation, a period of several weeks to many months, during which they will receive the best physiological and emotional treatment using advanced rehabilitation technologies, walking laboratories, and a specially ordered therapeutic pool from Europe. The center offers a professional team of experts in various rehabilitation fields in a large complex designed for comfort, providing a hotel-like experience instead of a hospital setting.

The new building, covering 30,000 square meters and rising eight stories, is located near the old hospital building but has an independent entrance allowing rehabilitation patients to access the center directly. The previous rehabilitation department at Hadassah Mount Scopus offered 40 inpatient beds, which has now expanded to 140 inpatient beds and 250 places for daytime rehabilitation treatments.

The center will provide restorative treatments for the entire population, including victims of car accidents, patients after complex surgeries, or those with head injuries, offering personalized advanced physiotherapy and occupational therapy, swimming, and exercises with smart equipment. The first department, opened three months ago, focused on rehabilitating soldiers injured in the "Iron Swords" war, and today, the center operates additional rehabilitation departments for patients of all ages with various medical conditions requiring quality and professional rehabilitation.

www.hadassah.org.il/hadassah_mount_scopus/

Photos credit Silvia G. Golan