When it comes to marketing tools, there is no shortage of help from the internet, some very entertaining indeed. In some ways, promoting a hospital or a specific medical unit, can be relatively easy, as you are able to play on raw human emotions.
Yet what do you do to brand a hospital that is seemingly doing just what it is supposed to do – save lives, return people to good health, enhance the surrounding community?
This week, I had the privilege of accompanying a delegation from ASHA (American Schools and Hospitals Abroad), as it visited one of its partners, the Sha’are Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem. ASHA is the arm of the federal government that since the early 1960s has been supporting medical and educational institutions across the globe. Ostensibly, Sha’are Zedek is just yet another large hospital, even if it is the only one located in the center of the Holy City.
The tour commenced. A lot of impressive equipment was discussed. The visitors saw how both staff and patients came from all sides of the ethnic equation in this political hot spot. New building programs were inspected. Much seemed very stereotype, that is until questions were asked directly to the teams on duty.
For example, Dr. Anthony Verstandig is Director of the Interventional Radiology Unit. An observant Jew who grew up in the UK, he has reorganized his department around stunning digital machinery sponsored by ASHA. As he explained, the procedure at that specific point in time was being supervised by a senior trainee from Ramallah and assisted by a devout Muslim from down the road in Jerusalem itself.
This example of coexistence was not isolated. The ASHA team learned about two women, sitting side-by-side for hours, receiving blood transfusions. Both were of an ultra-orthodox persuasion and both heavily dressed as a sign of modesty. However, the styles of clothing were different, as one is Jewish and one is Muslim.
In 2012, Sha’are Zedek opened a comprehensive breast health cancer center, also financed by ASHA. What I found specifically impressive here are the social dynamics. It is not just that the department now finds tumours that were previously undetectable and thus treatable when caught early. As indicated above, Jerusalem is host to large numbers are women, who live in conservative environments. The new mammography unit offers them a chance to reach out for help in a direct yet discreet manner.
Arguably, the best work done by members of the Sha’are Zedek hospital has very little to do with Jerusalem. Ignoring the training program for nurses or even the research work which can involve centers in America, Bethlehem or Europe, the ASHA visitors were introduced to “just another senior surgeon”. However, Dr Ofer Merin has directed field operations in many of the world’s hot spots.
For example, the Israeli field hospital in Haiti was deemed to have saved thousands after the earthquake in 2010. A year later, the assistance given in Japan was so successful that Dr Merin explained how he was asked to leave his equipment behind. He agreed to this with the exception of the laptops, which ……….were ‘made in Japan’. And in the past few months, Merin has supervised the treatment of hundreds of Syrian refugees in northern Israel, where the situation requires both medical and diplomatic savvy. At a time when opponents of Israel are calling for sanctions, one wonders why such hatred is more important than improving the lives of the average human around the globe.
During the tour of the hospital, the question was asked: Where does the name Sha’are Zedek come from? It refers to the phrase the “gates of righteous”, found in the Book of Psalms. In other words, regardless of background, all who are ill are considered amongst the righteous.
It is this core basic understanding, dating back thousands of years, that Sha’are Zedek offers to the whole populace of the wider Jerusalem community, and beyond.