Dr. Noam Yehudai, director of the Tzafon Medical Center near Tiberias, described the challenges of providing medical services to residents of Israel’s northern communities during wartime, at The Jerusalem Post Annual New York Conference.
“There are three main challenges in times like this,” he shared in the Monday interview. “First, was the challenge of delivering continued medical care.
“Even though some of the hospitals in the North closed their gates for many services, we continued to provide almost 100% of our services, not only to the citizens of the Eastern Galilee but also to the tens of thousands of people who were evacuated from their homes and came to the regions of the Kinneret and Tiberias and the surrounding municipalities. We had to make sure that they received the treatment that they needed.
“Second, we had to provide care for injured civilians, soldiers, and children. Finally, we have to be looking ahead and knowing that we should be able to provide more services to the region, mainly rehabilitation and mental health, which are the main issues that the Israeli healthcare system is going to be dealing with in the future.”
Emphasizing the importance of providing rehabilitation services – both mental and physical – Yehudai said that the Tzafon Medical Center has recently opened the Helmsley Rehabilitation Center, which, at full capacity, will include 162 inpatient beds. The Helmsley Center is adding a resilience center for mental rehabilitation, and the hospital is building a separate mental health center on its campus.
In an effort to bring talented medical professionals to Israel’s North, Yehudai shared that the Tzafon Medical Center has launched a joint initiative together with the Health Ministry and philanthropists, in coordination with the regional municipalities, called Talentech, to recruit 500 qualified medical professionals, including physiotherapists, psychologists, occupational therapists, and speech pathologists, to move to the area.
“We help find housing, proper education for their children, and employment for their spouse. It is a complete package that helps us bring top medical professionals to the North.”
Yehudai concluded the interview by suggesting that while the word “rehabilitation” is often used to describe what needs to be done for Israel’s North, a more accurate term would be “rebuilding.” “I think that we should rebuild the North and make it strong and attractive. Healthcare, education, and employment are the three most important things that will make it strong.”
This article was written as part of media coverage of the Jerusalem Post’s New York Conference