Sha'arei Tzedek Medical Center
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The Sha'arei Tzedek Medical Center (Hebrew: מרכז רפואי שערי צדק, Merkaz Refu'i Sha'arei Tzedek), or SZMC, is a major research hospital located in the Beit VeGan neighborhood of Jerusalem, Israel. The Hebrew name means "gates of justice." The hospital maintains over 500 beds and treats over 250,000 patients per year in its in-patient and out-patient facilities. The hospital located nearby to downtown Jerusalem is the city's only major centrally located hospital. During the peak of terrorist attacks in the period between 2001 and 2004, the hospital handled the largest percentage of victims of attacks in Jerusalem and has since become a center whose staff educates other metropolitan medical facilities how to respond to mass casualty incidents.
The hospital has a tradition as a medical institution that acts completely within the confines of Jewish law both in its medical and administrative practices.
SZMC has offices in ten countries outside of Israel, including England and the United States.[1]
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[edit] Facilities
Sha'arei Tzedek is located on an eleven and a half acre campus across from Mount Herzl in central Jerusalem. The hospital campus, which was completed in 1979, consists of ten interconnected buildings with the central structure being a ten-story building which houses the in-patient departments. The bottom three floors are located underground so as to allow the hospital to continue to operate even during war time under the threat of missile strike. The Department of Emergency Medicine, the Department of Surgery, the Pharmacy and critical supply areas are all located in this underground portion and other areas of the hospital can be evacuated to this portion when necessary.
In June of 2007, Sha'arei Tzedek began several major construction efforts on its facilities including the complete renovation of its surgical facilities and building the Wilf Children's Hospital. A third maternity department is also slated for construction.
Shaare Zedek is well known for its extensive decontamination facilities capable of responding to terrorist attacks. The hospital acts as the on-call facility for the entire Jerusalem area to respond to chemical warfare attacks. Sha'arei Tzedek's decontamination facilities served as an inspiration for New York's largest similar facility at the New York Downtown Hospital.[citation needed]
[edit] History
Sha'arey Tzedek was the first large hospital in Jerusalem. After the Ottoman Turks gave permission in the 1890s, and with funding from European donors, the hospital was built on Jaffa Road, two miles outside the Old City. Its opening ceremony took place on January 27, 1902. Dr. Moshe Wallach was the director from then until 1947. Schwester Selma lived in the hospital and cared for abandoned children.
Sha'arey Tzedek treated casualties of battles in Jerusalem, such as the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and the Six Day War.
The current campus in Bayit Vegan was inaugurated in 1980.[2]
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