TORONTO — A group of physicians from Mount Sinai Hospital travelled to Eilat in the fall to partner with physicans at Yoseftal Medical Center.
Founded in 1968, Yoseftal is the southernmost hospital in Israel, and the only hospital covering the southern Negev desert. With 80 beds, it is Israel’s smallest general hospital.
The purpose of the trip was to build a relationship between the two hospitals and to share what they have in common, said Maureen Shandling, neurologist and vice-president of medical affairs. She has been to Israel several times, but this was her first visit to the Eilat hospital.
“[Yoseftal] is small, but it provides an amazing breadth of care to a diverse population who speak many different languages.
“It is interesting to see their challenges. They deal with terror victims, accidents, births – whatever needs to be done. They provide the best quality care in a small space with less infrastructure than we have at Mount Sinai.”
She said that plans are to continue Mount Sinai’s relationship with the hospital, have physicians come to Toronto for additional training and have Mount Sinai residents work at Yoseftal.
“We were so warmly welcomed, and that warmth is reflected in the UJA partnership.”
Mount Sinai staff on the trip included Shandling; Tom Stewart, chief clinical officer and chief of medicine; Matt Sermer, head of obstetric medicine and medical director of the Frances Bloomberg Centre for Women’s and Infants’ Health; David Blackstein, head of orthopedics and medical director of the Centre for Musculoskeletal Disease; Eric Goldszmidt, deputy anesthesiologist-in-chief; and Sev Perlman, emergency staff physician and director of the post-baccalaureate research education program.
The trip was supported through the D.H. Gales Family Foundation, and is part of UJA Federation of Greater Toronto’s Eilat-Eilot Partnership.
