In early December, The Fellowship’s Chicago office was visited by Emek Medical Center’s Director, Dr. Maor Maman, who gave staff a glimpse of the growth, improvements, and adaptations that The Fellowship and our supporters have helped provide in times of war, terror, and uncertainty.
The Emek Medical Center in northern Israel sees about 700,000 patients annually. By 2040, that number is expected to reach one million. In times of war and terror, hospitals have an obligation to stay open and continue providing essential care to these patients and anyone else who needs it. In the wake of October 7, The Fellowship funded a new fortified ER for the Center, which can see 100 patients in the event of a terror attack. The 50-patient oncology building also received fortification against bombs and rockets.
“The hospital is going through a revolution, we can call it, because we are growing and developing. The number of beds is growing, the number of services is growing, and we have a lot of workers, 3,000, which we are managing,” said Dr. Maor.
Emek Medical Center is one of the foremost hospitals in Israel, a 100,00 square-foot campus with 25 different treatment and education centers. In October, the Beit Shulamit Cancer Center saw significant growth with new facilities and treatment machines. Dr. Maor listed four different types of MRI machines for testing the center received, which have led it to grow into a national level cancer center – the largest in northern Israel. It hosts hematology services, pediatric oncology, a cancer research center, a well-being center, and a unique radiology treatment center.
“There’s the Radiation Center, which isn’t common in northern Israel,” said Dr. Maor. “We have opened new ORs (operating rooms). In Israel, it’s very important that all the special facilities in the hospitals are fully protected and shielded. We’re always in fear of a missile attack, and we thought about missiles that will come from the adjacent Lebanon. We have experienced a massive ballistic attack from Iran, which even needed more shielded areas.”
Since May, 10 operating rooms have been built in the Operating and Recovery building and are all shielded in the event of a rocket attack. There are plans to reinforce new surgery recovery rooms in the same way starting next month. Because of measures like this, Emek Medical Center was one of the only hospitals in Israel still operating during the Iran war last year.
Dr. Maor also spoke about what it was like running a hospital in wartime. The Fellowship had helped provide a sheltered war room on campus to be used by the army and security forces to best coordinate safety for patients and their families. Beit Shulamit’s large, enclosed parking facility was converted into bed space for existing and incoming patients as an emergency hospital. The most important lessons that Emek Medical Center learned from Iran’s attacks are that working areas must be fully protected, and evacuating upper floors isn’t enough to move everyone to safety.
Dr. Maor was quick to praise The Fellowship and its supporters for enabling the sick to receive treatment safely – even in a time of war: “Thank you for all your support. You can see that it’s very meaningful. Every infrastructure, every device that we’ve bought with your support was meaningful.”
