EILAT — Joseftal Hospital is to get a new emergency facility with the help of a $1 million fund (US) raised by the UJA Federation of Greater Toronto.
Dr. Avi Goldberg, CEO of Joseftal Hospital [Adva Abramovitz, UIA Canada photo]
The hospital will break ground in February-March 2010 for an expanded emergency facility that will include a main intake hall, trauma unit, hypobaric isolation unit, pediatric unit, ambulatory care unit, waiting room, social worker room, conference room and children’s waiting area.
The Toronto group at Joseftal Hospital
The Ministry for the Development of the Negev and the Galilee is contributing $1 million to the project, and Clalit Health Services, which owns Joseftal Hospital, is contributing $2 million.
Last week, some 35 Toronto health practitioners, their friends and family members visited the hospital in Eilat. They were there as part of UJA Federation’s ninth annual doctors, dentists and friends mission to Israel, from Oct. 21 to 27.
“We come to get educated on Israel’s social and political issues,” Dr. Irving Gottesman, co-chair of the delegation, said. “We bring this information back to the Toronto Jewish community, in the hope of eliciting stronger commitment from community members to the Sate of Israel.”
The Joseftal Hospital is one such Israeli social issue. The hospital, which was founded in 1969 and is the only advanced medical facility in the region (the next closest emergency room is 240 kilometres away), is in dire need of an upgrade.
Although Eilat is a community of only 60,000, the population the hospital serves could grow up to 200,000, when you consider the non-permanent populations on nearby kibbutzim, Israel Defence Forces soldiers who train in the region, and the large number of tourists who visit Eilat at different times of the year, Dr. Avi Goldberg, CEO of Joseftal Hospital, said.
Due to Eilat’s small permanent population and its peripheral location, Joseftal suffers from a severe lack of resources. “It is very difficult to find the resources to grow and develop. The hospital is in a constant state of deficit,” Goldberg said.
Currently, the emergency room is made up of a single hall with only eight emergency stations. One additional bed serves for resuscitation and is divided from the rest of the ER by a curtain. There is no triage facility, no observation area and no walk-in clinic. Privacy for patients and their families is also lacking.
“The Jewish community in Toronto answered an urgent call from this small, peripheral and isolated hospital, which desperately needs investment both internally and externally in order to advance forward,” Goldberg said. “The Toronto community didn’t just contribute to the project. They put in the seed money. If it weren’t for the UJA’s commitment, there would be no project.”
Gottesman said: “Joseftal is a wonderful hospital and it serves a wonderful purpose, being here for both tourists and people who live here. It deserves to be upgraded to the 21st century.:
Mission co-chair Dr. Howard Price added: “We have been connected [to the Joseftal Medical Center] for years and agree that they need to be a first-class hospital.”
Goldberg said it’s important that missions come and see Joseftal. “The more people that come here that are working in the Toronto medical system, the better,” he says. “They can best understand our needs and our strategic plan for the next couple of years.”
The Toronto community has also played a major role in helping the hospital attract top-quality health-care professionals from the centre of Israel. It is difficult to encourage experienced doctors and nurses, particularly those with sub-specialties, to work in the periphery, Goldberg said
The Toronto federation raised the funds for fellowships, each worth $60,000, for two Israeli doctors who, in exchange for funding, will commit to working at Joseftal for three years. “This program has done wonders,” Goldberg said.
Gottesman said: “It is wonderful to see what the Toronto community has done here – what we have been able to do for them – and what they have been able to do for themselves.”
Goldberg said he hopes to expand co-operation between health-care professionals from the Toronto community and Joseftal. “I would like for future medical missions to spend more time with us and strengthen personal and professional ties between staff at Joseftal and physicians from Toronto.
“There is a very special relationship between Toronto and Eilat,” he says of the sister cities. “There is so much commitment and enthusiasm among members of the Toronto community. Having this contact with them, feeling their support, and watching our joint projects materialize is something very special. I have found true friends from Toronto, and we can really build on this relationship in the future.”
