“Every day since October 7, Hadassah has played an integral role in serving, protecting and healing Israel,” Hadassah National President Carol Ann Schwartz reminded supporters during a live briefing on Hadassah’s ongoing war response on August 27.
The briefing featured Prof. Meir Liebergall, outgoing director of the Orthopedics Division at the Hadassah Medical Organization, who showcased incredible advances in orthopedics, robotics and rehabilitation that have come as a direct result of the need to help soldiers and civilians to heal over the last 11 months. Yonti Bahat, who was gravely injured while fighting in Gaza in January, spoke about what it was like to be the recipient of some of these medical innovations.
Prof. Liebergall talked about the use of personalized orthopedics utilizing 3D technology to treat wounded soldiers and civilians.
He shared the story of and imaging films from a patient who had a bullet lodged in his ankle that led to missing pieces of bone and cartilage. His staff created a 3D model of the patient’s ankle, printed the missing pieces on a 3D printer and successfully implanted them. Three months after srgery, the patient was able to walk on his own.
Bahat talked about what it was like to be a patient in Prof. Liebergall’s department, as well as at Hadassah’s new Gandel Rehabilitation Center.
Bahat, who has served as a lieutenant colonel and deputy commander of a paratroopers brigade during the war, co-founded a company that prepares organizations for emergency incidents. It turned out that the paramedic who helped save his life after he was shot multiple times in the field was someone he had once trained.
After about a week in intensive care at another hospital, Bahat’s wife –– a physician –– insisted he be transferred to Hadassah. “It was important for her that I will be in Hadassah both for the treatment –– she knew that the intensive care is good –– but also for their orthopedic treatment,” he said.
Bahat’s rehabilitation began at Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem and continued when he was transferred to the Gandel center. “I was very weak after the time in intensive care and because of my injury, which was very severe. I couldn’t walk and I couldn’t even lift myself to go from the bed to the wheelchair,” he said.
Physical therapists at the Gandel center encouraged him to keep going when he didn’t think he could. Though he still has “work to do,” he can manage on his own, lift his young sons and help out at home. Rehabilitation has been a “crucial part” of his recovery, he said. “And thanks to the new building and facilities, it was a much better experience and a nice way to pass this hard process.”
“What I’ve seen over the last 11 months is that rehabilitation is very hard work and the environment in which somebody undergoes rehabilitation makes a difference,” said Suzanne Patt Benvenisti, executive director of the Hadassah Offices in Israel, who interviewed both Prof. Liebergall and Bahat on the live briefing. “Having a place that is truly a healing environment where they have fresh air and light and space and they have virtual reality, so they feel like they’re playing games while they’re doing rehabilitation, those things really make a difference in the ability of the soldiers and the patients and everybody who’s undergoing rehabilitation to persist and to continue to do the hard work.”
While the opening of the first phase of the Gandel Rehabilitation Center was accelerated after October 7, completing the center –– including the remaining five floors –– is one of the main priorities for Hadassah moving forward, along with outfitting six new cutting-edge operating rooms located deep underground in the Sarah Wetsman Davidson Hospital Tower, completing the construction and equipping of crucial state-of-the-art ICUs in the iconic Round Building, and continuing to care for and provide critical psychological support and shelter for students and faculty at Hadassah’s Youth Aliyah villages.
“Every gift you can give is needed and appreciated,” Schwartz said in closing. “We need you now more than ever. Israel needs you now.”
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