Prof. Zeev Rotstein

Who would have guessed that our tiny Israel would get a new title, Vaccination Nation, in the global fight against the coronavirus? I’m sure you share the pride we have in this achievement of Israel and the national role the Hadassah Medical Organization has played in the battle to free the country from COVID-19. Not only have we been a leader in Israel, but the achievements at Hadassah have also been in the world’s eyes. You, my friends, our Hadassah family of supporters and members, have enabled us to be leaders.

We can list our medical achievements in the many battles that we have fought during the devastating past year, leading Israel in taking the right steps to fight COVID-19.

PROF. ZEEV ROTSTEIN

DIRECTOR GENERAL, HADASSAH MEDICAL ORGANIZATION

We screened vulnerable populations and performed weekly screenings of our medical staff before other medical centers acted. Hadassah was among the first in the world to use pooling for testing. Our doctors invented inexpensive ventilators. We pioneered the use of antibody serums gathered from the plasma of recovered patients. Among our achievements, we can name the development of Allocetra™ by Prof. Dror Mevorach, a new medication to hold off the cytokine storm of the immune system’s multi-organ attack on itself. But I am just as proud of the non-medical achievements: being among the first major centers in the world to also issue protective suits to family members, allowing them to be next to the patients to ameliorate the loneliness of their loved ones. We also created a corps of volunteers, helping to relieve the stress of patients and staff members. We also kept most of the hospital campuses COVID-19 free, including the Sarah Wetsman Davidson Hospital Tower and Hadassah Hospital Mount Scopus. Instead, we used the Round Building that was undergoing renovation, extending its scope to house six COVID-19 wards, including two intensive care units. While all of this was going on in the Round Building, the daily challenges of medicine continued. In our Bone Marrow Department, we began manufacturing our own T-cell therapies, which drew in patients from around the country and abroad. With the new equipment in the angiography suite funded by USAID-ASHA, neurosurgeon Prof. José Cohen and spine surgeon Dr. Josh Schroeder became the first team in the world to do complex back surgery without general anesthesia. We continued transforming all of the hospital’s technology into cutting-edge modalities. Hadassah’s exodus from the COVID-19 year is as a proud and leading medical center showing the world the right way to fight the COVID-19 war. We pass this message on from generation to generation. We are partners in doing our part through Hadassah.