Showing posts with label Shaare Zedek Medical Center. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shaare Zedek Medical Center. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
50lbs of knitted blankets, hats, mittens, sweaters, to be delivered to newborn babies at SZ
50lbs of knitted blankets, hats, mittens, sweaters, to be delivered to newborn babies at SZ
Faye and Paul Jeser will have the privilege of delivering 50lbs of blankets, hats, mittens, and sweaters, knitted and crouched by Los Angeles area friends of Shaare Zedek for some of the thousands of babies born at SZ.
1) On June 18, 2014, as part of World Wide Knitting in Public (WWKIP) Day, the Western Region of the American Committee for Shaare Zedek joined friends at Shaare Zedek in Jerusalem and held a Women’s Service Project for the Children of Israel. Due to the hard work of Event Chair, Terry Storch and Western Region Community Campaign Director, Jennifer Weinstein, over 30 people on and offsite began working on a variety projects from knitting and crocheting infant and preemie hats and mittens and knotting children’s fleece blankets that will be donated to the Children’s Hospital at Shaare Zedek. The project will continue until the end of the summer. If you are interested in participating, please call the office at 310.229.0915.
2) It has been five years since Myra Shapiro created the group of 'knitters' at Valley Beth Shalom in Encino California. Throughout the years hundreds of baby blankets are delivered to new born babies at Shaare Zedek Medical Center with much love by friends and family of the KNITTING NEEDLES GROUP of VBS! Newborn babies get to go home wrapped in love with one of these beautiful handmade blankets. To join this group please call 818-530-4035 (VBS Chesed Connection).
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
SZ's hygiene rap video goes viral with over 300,000 views (now with Eng. subtitles); Breakdancing during surgery? Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem gets its staff to sing and dance about hand-washing.
“Washing hands was never cooler”-Walla
“Hip hop hygiene: Docs drop sick beat against infection” -Times of Israel
“History-making clip to increase awareness of the importance of washing hands-makes you want to run and wash your hands”
Hole in the Net Health
Hole in the Net Health
Most hospitals shy away from being linked to anything viral. But Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem has released a viral video that is winning them big points with viewers.
Hygiene – especially in hospitals – is crucial to keeping viruses and bacteria at bay.
Millions of people around the world get sicker from infections they contract in hospitals than from whatever they had upon checking in.
While Israeli companies have come up with numerous inventions and innovations in this field, the old-school practice of washing one’s hands continues to be the gold standard in cleanliness.
So, doctors, nurses and medical personnel at Shaare Zedek – which opened its doors in 1902 — made a rap about washing hands. It’s witty and highly entertaining. Within the first week of being posted on YouTube, the video scored more than 130,000 hits.
The lyrics are in Hebrew and although they are quite punny, the video can be understood without knowing the language.
The hospital reworded lyrics to the popular Israeli rap song “Raise Your Hands” by TACT and instead sings: “So put your hands under the water, add soap and wash away the virus.”
Sunday, August 25, 2013
Comments of Dr. Holli Levitsky Director, Jewish Studies Program Associate Professor of English Loyola Marymount University of the Bernd Wollschlaeger, M.D. event Aug. 21, 2013 sponsored by Western Region of the American Committee for Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem in conjunction with the Men’s Club of the Sephardic Temple in Los Angeles
I am deeply honored to be here tonite to introduce this truly remarkable man.
Dr. Bernd Wollschlaeger will tell you, in his own words, the story of his birth, his family, his determination to know his history, however painful, and to confront that history in the most personal and deliberate way.
I am here to provide you with some understanding of what those words mean. I would like to focus in particular on 3 issues of great concern historically, and personally for Bernd: 1) the postwar culture of silence about the atrocities committed during World War II that predominated in Germany and the rest of Europe, and in the United States as well, although I will only discuss Germany 2) the transmission of trauma to the future generations, or what some scholars have called, the inheritance of a “haunting legacy”; and 3) the idea of healing, or redemption after the Shoah.
The reconstruction of Germany was a long process. It seemed there was no interest in talking about the devistating loss of a war and the atrocities committed under its government when the country needed to focus on housing,food, employment and other resources for its citizens..As soon as 1945, the Allied forces worked heavily on removing Nazi symbolism from Germany in a process dubbed as "Denazification.” Both the German Democratic Republic and Western Germany had their own agendas, and the military occupation of West Germany didn’t end until 1955, the same year it was allowed to join NATO. It wasn’t until 1973 that West Germany joined the United Nations, and finally in 1991, a unified Germany was allowed by the Allies of World War II to become fully sovereign, after signing the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany.
To be sure, the Germany of 2013 is vastly different than its postwar counterpart. The massive Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in the center of Berlin was publically discussed and planned for ten years before it could be built and given that lengthy name. Rabbinical and cantorial colleges have opened at Potsdam University, the first such academic seminary for rabbis and cantors in Continental Europe after the Shoah, and stands in the tradition of the Institute for the Scientific Study of Judaism which was closed down by the Nazis in 1942. Other German centers of higher education have re-embraced Judaism; the Abraham Geiger college is now a member of the World Union for Progressive Judaism and accredited by the Central Conference of American Rabbis. Jewish Studies programs have developed, or, in some cases, returned to major universities. Many cities and even small towns in Germany have built public memorials to their displaced and murdered Jewish citizens. Sadly, anti-Semitism has not disappeared, nor has the Jewish population increased significantly. But German citizens and communities are now free to deeply confront and process publically the extent of the atrocities without fear, and begin to understand how much was lost.
Historians have long understood that the pervasive silence that weighed on Germany after the war was born of many things. Germany was a war-torn nation struggling to rebuild itself on the embers of a shame-filled loss which no one wanted very much to talk about. Raised on that landscape of silence, it was impossible for the postwar generation to know very much—or even anything at all--about the facts of the Shoah, let alone to deeply confront and process the extent of the terrible deeds perpetrated by their own families, neighbors, friends, and fellow German citizens.We know from history that collective shame and guilt cannot, finally, be escaped. Even if it’s not addressed in the lifetime of the perpetrators, it will be transmitted to the children and to future generations. The more the acknowledgement of shame and guilt in Germany was silenced in public debates, the more they migrated into the psyche and the cultural unconscious. For the generation of perpetrators, the knowledge of the Holocaust was relegated to a “tacit knowledge” that became taboo in public debates in any but the most superficial ways. For the postwar generation, it became something like a national secret, only to be revealed as brute fact, in the cold abstraction of history lessons. For many decades, there was virtually no public forum for anything like a discussion of this national history.
There is a wide range of defensive reactions against the knowledge of belonging to a family—and nation—of perpetrators. One of them is to remain frozen in guilt and shame; another is to remain lost in denial.
Indeed, it was the German war generation that after the war coined the term, “inner exile,” to signify an illusory escape from their complicity with, if not excuse for, the Nazi atrocities, whether as active participants or as bystanders. Most Germans simply went on with their lives. But what about their children? What happened to them once the culture of silence was breached? DId they inherit the “inner exile” of their parents’ generation? For many Germans of the second-generation, the “inner exile” of their parents became for them a condition of impossible national belonging, that is, being German but not wanting to be German and thus associated with the crimes of the past.
Yet, given that background, Bernd’s story is not what you might expect--that of a second-generation German who runs from his own culture, internalizing the guilt of the perpetration through shame and self-hatred, or even denial, at the same time feeling as if he will never belong to another culture.What makes Bernd’s story so unique is the way he made this history, this legacy personal. He didn’t abandon his culture so much as seek out a righteous space within it.
One might say that Bernd will share with you a haunting legacy. Why is it a “haunting legacy?” It is haunting because he was born in the shadow of all that we know about the violent history of World War II and the Shoah, the murderous campaign and attempted genocide against the Jews of Europe as perpetrated by the German National Socialist government under Adolf Hitler.
It is also haunting because it is Bernd Wollschlaeger’s personal history, an experience of transgenerational trauma shared with many others of that post-war generation, children of Jews and children of Germans. The bigger question raised by Bernd’s life trajectory is how he became the person he is today: from German to Israeli and American citizen, teacher, healer, repairer of the world. Dr. Bernd Wollschlaeger is the kind of man who defines history rather than letting history define him.
Dr. Bernd Wollschlaeger will tell you, in his own words, the story of his birth, his family, his determination to know his history, however painful, and to confront that history in the most personal and deliberate way.
I am here to provide you with some understanding of what those words mean. I would like to focus in particular on 3 issues of great concern historically, and personally for Bernd: 1) the postwar culture of silence about the atrocities committed during World War II that predominated in Germany and the rest of Europe, and in the United States as well, although I will only discuss Germany 2) the transmission of trauma to the future generations, or what some scholars have called, the inheritance of a “haunting legacy”; and 3) the idea of healing, or redemption after the Shoah.
The reconstruction of Germany was a long process. It seemed there was no interest in talking about the devistating loss of a war and the atrocities committed under its government when the country needed to focus on housing,food, employment and other resources for its citizens..As soon as 1945, the Allied forces worked heavily on removing Nazi symbolism from Germany in a process dubbed as "Denazification.” Both the German Democratic Republic and Western Germany had their own agendas, and the military occupation of West Germany didn’t end until 1955, the same year it was allowed to join NATO. It wasn’t until 1973 that West Germany joined the United Nations, and finally in 1991, a unified Germany was allowed by the Allies of World War II to become fully sovereign, after signing the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany.
To be sure, the Germany of 2013 is vastly different than its postwar counterpart. The massive Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in the center of Berlin was publically discussed and planned for ten years before it could be built and given that lengthy name. Rabbinical and cantorial colleges have opened at Potsdam University, the first such academic seminary for rabbis and cantors in Continental Europe after the Shoah, and stands in the tradition of the Institute for the Scientific Study of Judaism which was closed down by the Nazis in 1942. Other German centers of higher education have re-embraced Judaism; the Abraham Geiger college is now a member of the World Union for Progressive Judaism and accredited by the Central Conference of American Rabbis. Jewish Studies programs have developed, or, in some cases, returned to major universities. Many cities and even small towns in Germany have built public memorials to their displaced and murdered Jewish citizens. Sadly, anti-Semitism has not disappeared, nor has the Jewish population increased significantly. But German citizens and communities are now free to deeply confront and process publically the extent of the atrocities without fear, and begin to understand how much was lost.
Historians have long understood that the pervasive silence that weighed on Germany after the war was born of many things. Germany was a war-torn nation struggling to rebuild itself on the embers of a shame-filled loss which no one wanted very much to talk about. Raised on that landscape of silence, it was impossible for the postwar generation to know very much—or even anything at all--about the facts of the Shoah, let alone to deeply confront and process the extent of the terrible deeds perpetrated by their own families, neighbors, friends, and fellow German citizens.We know from history that collective shame and guilt cannot, finally, be escaped. Even if it’s not addressed in the lifetime of the perpetrators, it will be transmitted to the children and to future generations. The more the acknowledgement of shame and guilt in Germany was silenced in public debates, the more they migrated into the psyche and the cultural unconscious. For the generation of perpetrators, the knowledge of the Holocaust was relegated to a “tacit knowledge” that became taboo in public debates in any but the most superficial ways. For the postwar generation, it became something like a national secret, only to be revealed as brute fact, in the cold abstraction of history lessons. For many decades, there was virtually no public forum for anything like a discussion of this national history.
There is a wide range of defensive reactions against the knowledge of belonging to a family—and nation—of perpetrators. One of them is to remain frozen in guilt and shame; another is to remain lost in denial.
Indeed, it was the German war generation that after the war coined the term, “inner exile,” to signify an illusory escape from their complicity with, if not excuse for, the Nazi atrocities, whether as active participants or as bystanders. Most Germans simply went on with their lives. But what about their children? What happened to them once the culture of silence was breached? DId they inherit the “inner exile” of their parents’ generation? For many Germans of the second-generation, the “inner exile” of their parents became for them a condition of impossible national belonging, that is, being German but not wanting to be German and thus associated with the crimes of the past.
Yet, given that background, Bernd’s story is not what you might expect--that of a second-generation German who runs from his own culture, internalizing the guilt of the perpetration through shame and self-hatred, or even denial, at the same time feeling as if he will never belong to another culture.What makes Bernd’s story so unique is the way he made this history, this legacy personal. He didn’t abandon his culture so much as seek out a righteous space within it.
One might say that Bernd will share with you a haunting legacy. Why is it a “haunting legacy?” It is haunting because he was born in the shadow of all that we know about the violent history of World War II and the Shoah, the murderous campaign and attempted genocide against the Jews of Europe as perpetrated by the German National Socialist government under Adolf Hitler.
It is also haunting because it is Bernd Wollschlaeger’s personal history, an experience of transgenerational trauma shared with many others of that post-war generation, children of Jews and children of Germans. The bigger question raised by Bernd’s life trajectory is how he became the person he is today: from German to Israeli and American citizen, teacher, healer, repairer of the world. Dr. Bernd Wollschlaeger is the kind of man who defines history rather than letting history define him.
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
ANNE SAMSON, a”h
It is with the utmost sorrow that we mourn the loss of an exemplary woman who was a true role model of kindness and chesed to her friends, her family and her community. Known for the bright smile that constantly radiated from her face, Anne epitomized the mitzvah of hachnasat orchim. Together with her husband Lee, she was deeply committed to countless charities, both in the United States and Israel. As Platinum Founders of Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, the Samsons have made a tremendous difference for patients struggling with digestive diseases. We extend our heartfelt condolences to her husband Lee, their children, Dani, Aliza and Tali, their grandchildren and the entire extended family. May the entire family and the entire community be comforted amongst the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.
Murray Laulicht, President
Menno Ratzker, Chair
Prof. Jonathan Halevy, Director-General, SZMC
Paul Jeser, West Coast Regional Director
Anne Samson, philanthropist, 66
Anne Samson (née Katz) was born in 1947 in a displaced persons camp in Salzburg, Austria. Her parents, Emil and Eva Katz, were Holocaust survivors from Hungary who lost most of their family members in Auschwitz, where Eva was a slave laborer. In 1949, Anne and her parents immigrated to Los Angeles, where her brothers Ernest and Sammy were born. Anne grew up in the Bnei Akiva youth movement and attended Camp Moshava every summer, where she met the love of her life, Lee Samson. The couple married in 1966 and spent the months following the Six-Day War volunteering in Israel.
After completing college and working as a legal secretary, supporting Lee in his communal responsibilities as he developed the West Coast Region of NCSY, Anne dedicated herself to raising her children: Dani, Aliza and Tali. Anne was always a devoted mother, daughter and sister, putting family responsibilities above all else.
Anne had a beautiful voice and loved harmonizing with her husband and children around the Shabbat table. She enjoyed the arts, and worked with Lee in designing and building a beautiful home that was always open to guests and philanthropic organizations, including the Simon Wiesenthal Center, the Kiryat Shmona Hesder Yeshiva, Young Israel of North Beverly Hills and countless others.
A very modest and selfless individual, Anne never sought the limelight, but together with Lee she worked quietly behind the scenes in supporting the many synagogues, communal organizations and politicians that reflected their love of Israel and the Jewish people. With Lee’s parents and siblings moving to Israel, as well as two of their children and 10 grandchildren, Anne and Lee were regular visitors and established a beautiful home in Jerusalem. They nurtured friendships with President Shimon Peres, Mayor Nir Barkat and members of the Knesset.
Adherence to Jewish tradition and observance was something that was very dear to Anne and Lee, with all of their children and 17 grandchildren continuing in their traditional ways. Anne loved the Jewish holidays and her holiday gatherings of friends and family included her superb cooking and hospitality.
Anne was devoted to her husband, children, grandchildren, extended family and friends. She never said a harsh word about anyone, and was always there to help everyone in need. After a day spent playing with her visiting grandchildren on the beach, and a romantic dinner with her husband, Anne and Lee were involved in a catastrophic car accident that ultimately claimed her life. May her memory be a blessing for her family and all who knew and loved her.
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
One year ago we celebrated the life of Ralph Amado z'l
Tribute to Ralph: http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Presentation to Honey and the family: http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Video of pictures taken during the event: http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Jewish Ethics – Alan Dershowitz: http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Sunday, February 10, 2013
SZ, Yeshivat Yavneh, The Nagels, Chesed Project, ACSZ Salons.....
One of the goals of our Salon program is to reach out to people in our community who do not know Shaare Zedek and bring them into our donor family.
Nomi and Daniel Silverman hosted a Salon, October, 2011. Daniel connected us to Joey Goldstein, President of Yeshivat Yavneh (a major institution in the Hancock Park area). That connection led us to the concept of developing a Chesed Project for Yavneh’s 8th graders during their upcoming trip to Israel. The goals: providing the students with a meaningful experience and connecting Shaare Zedek to families who could become supporters.
Prof. Halvey, Uri Schwarz, Marla Haruni and other SZ staff members developed and ran what turned out to be a VERY meaningful and inspiring experience at SZ for the 30+ students.
Tonight, at Yavneh, with about 200 in attendance, Gitta and Jack Nagel, on behalf of SZ, presented students with Certificates of Appreciation. Gitta’s OUTSTANDING can be found below the pictures.
Now comes a most important part of the process – personally speaking with as many of the families whose children participated as possible…..
But first, as always, the Music Video – of pictures taken during the Chesed Project at SZ: http://www.youtube.com/watch?
PICTURES (Gitta’s presentation is right below the pictures)
Remarks by Gitta Nagel
Yeshivat Yavneh - Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem Ceremony
Motzei Shabbat, February 9, 2013
Good evening, Shavua Tov:
My husband, Jack, and I are extremely impressed with the learning you did this Motzei Shabbat.
We are so pleased to see the outstanding education that Yavneh continues to provide for our student body, as we strive to remain the number 1 school in our community that teaches… Torah with Modernity. This has been our motto and hopefully will remain in perpetuity.
Who could ever imagine in 1959, when our first born, the future Doctor Ronnie Nagel was ready for school, we, with a handful of leaders from Congregation Shaare Tefilah created a Day School in this neighborhood, which continued to grow and is now on its third site with third generation students and filled to the brim in this magnificent campus. A REAL Kiddush Hashem. Amen.
Tonight, however, I am here representing the Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem. Shaare Zedek is celebration its 110 anniversary serving All the citizens of Jerusalem (Jewish, Christian and Muslims); providing them with outstanding medical services. Politics and religion are left "outside the door."
Known as the "Hospital with a Heart," Shaare Zedek, with over 800 beds is famous for the way it cares for its patients and treats their families with respect and dignity.
It's not only a world class teaching hospital with state of the art Operating Theatres and Emergency Department which our 8th graders visited, but is also renowned as the hospital in which almost 20,000 babies will be delivered in 2013, making it the hospital with the most deliveries in the Western world.
By the end of this year Shaare Zedek Medical Center is proud to open the two floors of its new Children's Hospital complete with its own Emergency Room, Out Patient Clinic, Day Care, Dialysis Center, and a School for those children that are sometimes confined for as long as six months.
And now on behalf of our dynamic director and good friend, Mr. Paul Jeser, and as a trustee of Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, and as a founder of Yavneh, please permit me to express Shaare Zedek's appreciation for the wonderful and meaningful Chesd Project Yavneh's 8th graders performed during their recent trip to Israel.
The work that they did preparing equipment and supplies to be used throughout the hospital and especially in the Operating Theatres, was of significant assistance to Shaare Zedek's staff. In addition to this project, we also want to express our thanks for the donation of a much needed pediatric Pediatric Wheelchair that the 8th Graders donated with funds that they raised throughout the year.
As Yeshiva students, you learned in school that when we became a nation we, the children of Israel, made a pledge to Hashem at Har Sinai "Na'aseh V'e Nishma - we will listen and we will do."
Your participation and support of the Shaare Zedek Medical Center is concrete evidence of your fulfilling this pledge Na'aseh V'e Nishma.
Before I call those of you who are here and who participated up to receive a Certificate of Appreciation as well as present Yeshivat Yavneh a well-deserved plaque of recognition, we want to show a short video of pictures taken during your visit to the Shaare Zedek Medical Center.
Thursday, December 20, 2012
SZ - Chemical Missile Attack Drill
-- Patient arrival at the Medical Center via ambulance. The drill simulated a missile strike on the Jerusalem area with a chemical warhead.
-- Gurneys await their patients. These stretchers are specially equipped with oxygen tanks
-- Preparing for the arrival of the "casualties." All medical personnel located in the "clean zone" were outfitted with biohazard suits. Incident commanders recieved newly designed communications systems that were integrated into the chemical-resistant headgear.
-- With the IDF
--Dr. Ofer Merin, Director of Emergency Response at Shaare Zedek supervises the drill.
--Computer processing area. Every patient is photographed for internal review purposes and processed via the Shaare Zedek's internal computer system.
--Situation Control Room
--The casualty is treated with a decontamination powder before going under a high powered shower
--The patient is transferred "over the yellow line" and into the hospital indicating that he has been determined to be free of contamination and can be treated without special equipment.
Monday, December 10, 2012
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Sunday, August 5, 2012
Laughter is the best therapy
The Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem was smiling and laughing as a colorful group of clowns, led by "Nurse Nice" (aka Hilary Chaplain), a medical clown from New York, walked through the corridors of the Pediatric Ward and entertained sick children in the dialysis room. With her visit supported by the U.S. Embassy, Tel Aviv, Hilary gave several workshops to Israeli medical clowns and worked with the "Dream Doctor," the largest medical clowns' organization in the country, to apply new methods taught at the workshop. Ambassador Daniel Shapiro was the guest of honor at this special event and took an active role by talking to the children and dancing with the clowns. As one mother put it after seeing a real smile on her sick daughter's face: "It's about time she started laughing after such a long period of tears ..."
Monday, July 30, 2012
JPost: Israeli (SZMC) cardiologists improve rapid heartbeat treatment
The procedure, which uses tiny balloon filled with nitrous oxide, is believed to be faster and more effective than using heat
For the first time in Israel, Shaare Zedek Medical Center cardiologists have used a tiny balloon filled with nitrous oxide to destroy cardiac tissue that caused three patients’ heartbeats to go haywire and endanger their lives. Until now, cardiac ablation for atrial fibrillation (AF) has been performed here only via hot radio frequency.
The procedure, which thus far has been performed in only 200 medical centers around the world on some 20,000 AF patients, is believed to be faster and more effective than using heat. Inserted through a vein in the groin, the deflated balloon is inserted via a catheter at the junction between the pulmonary vein and the left atrium. This is the spot that is know to cause irregular electrical activity and make the heart contract much too quickly.
Dr. Aharon Medina, head of the electrophysiology unit at Shaare Zedek, learned in Boston to conduct the procedure after having spent years using the heating technique.
The hospital purchased the nitrous oxide equipment from Medtronic, with participation from Dr. Michael Ilan, head of the pacemaker unit, and interventional cardiologist Dr.
David Meerkin. Each of the balloons cost $5,000, which is somewhat more expensive than hot ablation balloons.
Prof. Dan Tzivoni, head of cardiology at the Jerusalem hospital, told The Jerusalem Post that cold ablation is beneficial in that if the first ablation is performed in the wrong place, it can be done again without causing permanent damage. In addition, just as a very cold finger sticks to glass, the nitrous oxide-cooled device sticks to the beating heart, which makes the device more stable and enables diseased tissue to be removed more easily. The device kills a ring-shaped piece of heart tissue, while the other method has be be applied point by point, much like making a tattoo.
AF can cause the heart to beat as much as 400 times a minute, said Tzivoni. Patients with the condition suffer from chronic tiredness, respiratory problems and coronary insufficiency, and it can also lead to stroke and death.
AF becomes more common in people as they age – after age 80, some 8 percent of people suffer from it – and has affected some 70,000 Israelis.
As such, cardiac ablation by any means is included in the basket of health services.
The three Jerusalemite patients in their 50s and 60s remained in the hospital overnight and were discharged without the fibrillation the next day.
Although the cold technique is faster than heating ablation, said Medina, “it still takes a few hours. It is very delicate. We believe that as we get more experience, it will be faster.” The initial cases were given general anesthesia, but in the future the doctors hope to do so under deep sedation, as unlike with heat, employing cold is painful.
Ablation success rates are around 70%, thus having an additional technology is better – as if one does not work, the other likely will. The hospital is ready to perform cardiac ablation on additional AF patients.
About eight years ago, Medina performed a few cryoablation procedures on patients at Jerusalem’s Bikur Cholim Hospital using primitive equipment made by a different company, which did not include an inflatable balloon.
It has since been taken off the market.
The procedure, which thus far has been performed in only 200 medical centers around the world on some 20,000 AF patients, is believed to be faster and more effective than using heat. Inserted through a vein in the groin, the deflated balloon is inserted via a catheter at the junction between the pulmonary vein and the left atrium. This is the spot that is know to cause irregular electrical activity and make the heart contract much too quickly.
Dr. Aharon Medina, head of the electrophysiology unit at Shaare Zedek, learned in Boston to conduct the procedure after having spent years using the heating technique.
The hospital purchased the nitrous oxide equipment from Medtronic, with participation from Dr. Michael Ilan, head of the pacemaker unit, and interventional cardiologist Dr.
David Meerkin. Each of the balloons cost $5,000, which is somewhat more expensive than hot ablation balloons.
Prof. Dan Tzivoni, head of cardiology at the Jerusalem hospital, told The Jerusalem Post that cold ablation is beneficial in that if the first ablation is performed in the wrong place, it can be done again without causing permanent damage. In addition, just as a very cold finger sticks to glass, the nitrous oxide-cooled device sticks to the beating heart, which makes the device more stable and enables diseased tissue to be removed more easily. The device kills a ring-shaped piece of heart tissue, while the other method has be be applied point by point, much like making a tattoo.
AF can cause the heart to beat as much as 400 times a minute, said Tzivoni. Patients with the condition suffer from chronic tiredness, respiratory problems and coronary insufficiency, and it can also lead to stroke and death.
AF becomes more common in people as they age – after age 80, some 8 percent of people suffer from it – and has affected some 70,000 Israelis.
As such, cardiac ablation by any means is included in the basket of health services.
The three Jerusalemite patients in their 50s and 60s remained in the hospital overnight and were discharged without the fibrillation the next day.
Although the cold technique is faster than heating ablation, said Medina, “it still takes a few hours. It is very delicate. We believe that as we get more experience, it will be faster.” The initial cases were given general anesthesia, but in the future the doctors hope to do so under deep sedation, as unlike with heat, employing cold is painful.
Ablation success rates are around 70%, thus having an additional technology is better – as if one does not work, the other likely will. The hospital is ready to perform cardiac ablation on additional AF patients.
About eight years ago, Medina performed a few cryoablation procedures on patients at Jerusalem’s Bikur Cholim Hospital using primitive equipment made by a different company, which did not include an inflatable balloon.
It has since been taken off the market.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Friday, January 20, 2012
A miracle happened ten years ago at Shaare Zedek - January 22, 2002! Video of reunion between Shayna and Dr. Deeb:
Dr. Maher Deeb saved the life of a young woman
 |
named Shayna Gould who had been studying in Israel for the year. Shayna was a 19 year old Chicagoan who was shot in a terrorist attack. When she arrived at the hospital, according to all reports she was near death with seriously weak vital signs. Dr. Deeb worked tirelessly with his talented staff to perform a miracle and brought Shayna back to life.
Dr. Maher Deeb, an Israeli Arab, was born in Haifa and raised in the Galilee village of Rama in northern Israel and is currently
the Director of the Matloff Department of Cardi-Thoracic Surgery at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem. Dr. Deeb received his medical degree and completed his residency in Cardiothoracic Surgery at Hebrew University Medical School, and was a Clinical Fellow at the Department of General Thoracic Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia. Since joining Shaare Zedek in 2000, Dr. Deeb has played an integral role in saving countless lives while establishing Shaare Zedek as the premier center for thoracic surgery in all of Israel. As an Israeli Arab working in a senior position in a Jerusalem hospital, Dr. Deeb exemplifies Shaare Zedek's status as a model of social co-existence.
Dr. Deeb is perhaps the epitomy of our mission; to provide high-tech medicine combined with compassionate patient care. Ask Dr. Deeb when he takes time off and he will laugh. "It is a very rare day that I am not at the hospital for at least some period of time," says Dr. Deeb. "My patients all have my cell phone number and my pager so that they can reach me whenever they have a question or need immediate medical attention."
 |
Dr. Deeb is perhaps the epitomy of our mission; to provide high-tech medicine combined with compassionate patient care. Ask Dr. Deeb when he takes time off and he will laugh. "It is a very rare day that I am not at the hospital for at least some period of time," says Dr. Deeb. "My patients all have my cell phone number and my pager so that they can reach me whenever they have a question or need immediate medical attention."
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
ACSZ Western Region Salon; Building African-American Support for Israel - The Deligitimization of Israel
Civil trial attorney Baruch C. Cohen with Jarrod Jordon
Executive Director of Vanguard Leadership Group
topics1) Building African-American Support for Israel
2) The Deligitimization of Israel
Each one of Salons has been unique in different ways: topics, speakers, participants, venues… The Salon that took place last night was VERY unique (I know, ‘very unique’ is poor English – but in this case the perfect description). First – The Salon was held in the new 42 story “THE CENTURY”, one of LA’s most prestigious condominiums (Candy Spelling, Paula Abdul, Jane Fonda live there). The building is more than gorgeous and the areas in which we held our Salon were stunning. Second – the topics were timely, interesting, and thought provoking. The hour allotted for presentations and Q&As went very quickly and the 50 people in attendance (max we allowed) were mesmerized from beginning to end. Third – and most importantly – the presenters:
Adelle Nazarian, Program Director of the Henry Jackson Society (http://www.
Jerrod Jordan, Executive Director of the African-American Atlanta based Vanguard Leadership Group (http://
We thank the speakers, Pam Chais for hosting this Salon, Honey Kessler Amado for sponsoring the program, Stephen Matloff for spearheading our outreach to the ‘younger’ people in our community, and last but not least Jennifer Weinstein who, as always, did an outstanding job.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
