News and Events Archive
RAMBAM CLOWNS AROUND - THE MEDICAL CLOWN PROJECT
 The need
Rambam Medical Center currently employs three medical clowns, who work a total of 18 hours per week. Needless to say, demand is much greater, and the presence of a clown is of great importance for children undergoing difficult treatments such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy in the Oncology department or in the departments of surgery, before and after the surgical intervention.
For the benefit and wellbeing of children and families, Rambam Medical Center requests your assistance in financing five medical clowns for a period of five years.
If you would like to contribute to this vital program, please visit our "How You Can Help" section and click on "Chanukah Gelt For Health!" Here you will be able to make a contribution to Rambam's "Clown Around" program.
Background
"Medical clowns" are a new field in hospitals and medical centers.
Medical clowns use skills such as magic, balloon sculpting and storytelling to treat children with doses of fun to help them deal with the physical difficulties and range of emotions they may experience while in hospital – fear, anxiety, loneliness, boredom. The emphasis is on interaction with the patients and their families. The goal is to help bring healing to children and adults through laughter, compassion, and joy.
The medical clowns are BA graduates in Theater who participate in specially-designed courses in the field of nursing in order to integrate their unique skills into the hospital environment. They create distraction, so the patient won't feel his pain and can fly with them to fantasy lands.
 This is actually a type of therapy – "clown therapy".
Cost:
Employment of five medical clowns per year: $ 60,000
Employment of five medical clowns for five years: $ 300,000
Recognition
A plaque recognizing the donor will be set on the Donors' wall of the Children hospital.
From Ha'Emek Medical Center...
"Laughter heals. It is known that a medical clown appearing at the side of a sick patient, child or adult, at the opportune moment often transforms the treatment experience into a pleasant and memorable one - for the patient, the family and the attending medical staff. These wonderful clowns have the ability to bring smiles & laughter to children when they are worried, in pain or vulnerable in what is to them an uncertain hospital environment. The therapeutic magic of these clowns is a radiant asset and this heart-warming service should be more lovingly available to our Pediatric Emergency Services, Pediatric Surgical and Internal Medicine Wards and Oncology Department."
A DONOR MAKES HER VOICE HEARD
One of our thoughtful donors sent us the following letter. We are proud to share it with you. We'd like to thank Tobi, as well as all of our generous donors:
|
To Whom It May Concern:
On June 20, 1991, I was twenty years old and had just completed a month of volunteering in the Israeli army. While being hosted for a night by the family of one of the soldiers from the base, I was in a near-fatal car accident. I was rushed to Rambam Medical Center, where Dr. Gershon Volpin and his team saved my life.
After two months of hospitalization, at both Rambam and Elisha Hospital, I returned to the States. I’ve had more than forty surgeries to address multiple issues since that fateful evening. But I’ve never given up, and I have done things that I never thought possible in those first weeks after the crash – from climbing bridges to giving birth to two beautiful, happy and healthy daughters.
Through it all, many people have shown me endless kindness, provided emotional support, and performed medical miracles. I will always credit Dr. Volpin and the folks at Rambam, however, for saving my life and limbs.
Please accept this contribution, and my eternal gratitude.
Thank you,
Tobi Printz-Platnick
|
SAVE THE DATE!
RAMBAM AT WAR; THE ACADEMIC VERSION
H ow to continue running a vital health system under Katyusha fire? How to guarantee that tens of medical students will proceed with their essential studies? How much does a war cost a hospital?
An article published in the prestigious US scientific journal, ACADEMIC MEDICINE, answered these questions, and stimulated great interest among hospital administrators and medical personnel who deal with trauma and health system management during crises. The article’s writers were the leadership and trauma team of Rambam Health Care Campus (RHCC). Three years after the outbreak of the Second Lebanon War, they summarized the management issues facing a large hospital under fire.
A reminder: Rambam, the largest hospital in northern Israel, supplies vital medical care services to all residents of this region. This includes oncological care, neurosurgery, delivery room facilities, emergency rooms for children and adults, and dozens of other services. During the two consecutive months of war in July-August 2006, the RHCC continued providing all those services. At the same time, it absorbed hundreds of patients from the north and the Haifa area, who had been wounded in missile attacks. As missiles landed near the RHCC itself, its medical teams treated patients in bomb shelters and protected areas within the hospital.
In summarizing the hospital’s activities, the Rambam leadership – under the supervision of hospital director Prof Rafael Beyar – found that in the 20th century, there was only one example of health centers that acted similarly to Rambam: English hospitals during WWII. These facilities continued to operate under threat of bombs, to treat soldiers wounded in battle, and to provide necessary medical services to the population.
The RHCC administrators concluded, and wrote in their article, that hospitals like Rambam must be prepared adequately if they are to stand up during attacks. These facilities must be outfitted with secure spaces that can be used for hospitalizing patients and providing treatment under fire. This conclusion is being implemented through the accelerated construction , during the last two years, of thousands of meters of underground areas that can withstand conventional or unconventional attacks.
Another issue is the loss of income during war. Rambam, for example, lost more than 40 million shekels – 10% of its annual budget – during one month of the war up. This shortfall resulted from war-related expenses and reduced income due to a sharp drop in the number of hospitalized patients.
For the complete article click here
RENOVATED NEUROLOGY DEPARTMENT DEDICATED AT RAMBAM
The newly upgraded Department of Neurology was dedicated at a moving, widely-attended ceremony at the Rambam Health Care Campus (RHCC).
Rambam’s Department of Neurology, under the supervision of Prof David Yarnitsky, provides special services to all of northern Israel. Among new services added during the last year are: treatment of Parkinson’s Disease by transplanting electrodes (DBS) into the brain, a procedure performed jointly with the Department of Neurosurgery, and a new technique for treating stroke patients with a brain stent.
Brain stenting requires special expertise, and today, this service is offered at only four hospitals in Israel. In most hospitals, doctors treat ischemic stroke with direct injections of materials that dissolve blood clots. Effective for up to three hours from the beginning of the event, this treatment is efficient in most cases. The brain stent, offered at Rambam, increases the duration of ischemic stroke treatment from three to eight hours by accessing the depths of the brain with sophisticated stents and removing the blood clot at the same time.
For more information and further news about medical innovation at Rambam Health Care Campus click on ABOUT RAMBAM MEDICAL CENTER
"The Lunch and Learn" series had a special guest on Sept. 9th: Professor Michael Aviram, Head of the Lipid Research Lab at Rambam Medical Center.
Prof. Aviram is one of the leading experts in the research on cholesterol and lipoproteins and the role played by dietary antioxidants in the fight against atherosclerosis.
The professor talked about the importance of antioxidants in the Mediterranean diet. He was welcomed by the President of the American Friends of Rambam Medical Center, Adam Emmerich.
Sweet samples of pomegranate juice concentrate (a great antioxidant), were handed to the luncheon participants. To learn more go to: www.aviramlipids.com
On September 6th, members of the Iranian Jewish Federation were welcomed at Rambam Medical Center. The occasion was the unveiling of two plaques to commemorate the generous contribution of the Federation to Rambam.
The first plaque was dedicated by Messrs. Fred and Nader Ohebshalom in memory of their brother. The second plaque is dedicated by the Iranian Jewish Federation of New York in support of Rambam Medical Center.
The Money donated will go for the purchase of the advanced "da Vinci" surgical robot.
From left to Right: Fred Ohebshalom, Iranian American Jewish Federation Board member; Prof. Rafael Beyar, Director General of Rambam; Shahram Yaghoubzadeh, President Iranian American Jewish Federation
See more pictures in our gallery
|
