A World of Education at Shaare Zedek
04 March 2019
Shaare Zedek Medical Centre is no ordinary hospital, and the concept of education at Shaare Zedek has global implications. For well over a century, the hospital in Jerusalem has offered compassionate care and the best in emerging medical innovations. Its culture of inquiry and education has real benefits that are far reaching and profound.
For young patients who don’t want to fall behind at school, Shaare Zedek offers the Lincoln David Abraham Educational Institute. This school within the hospital is fully equipped and is registered with Israel’s Ministry of Education. Compassionate and fully qualified teachers liaise with the child’s school to help young patients keep up with schoolwork wherever possible. Innovative educational approaches at Shaare Zedek’s school include pet therapy and clown therapy.
Education at Shaare Zedek takes on many other forms as well. Shaare Zedek has a profound sense of responsibility to the population it serves and works to educate specific groups about relevant medical issues.
An example of this is in pregnancy and childbirth education. Shaare Zedek is one of the busiest maternity hospitals in the world. Last year, 22,748 babies were born at the hospital’s two campuses. Women and their families come from all ethnic groups and all walks of life to give birth at the hospital. Shaare Zedek is committed to empowering them to have the best experience possible and offers regular public educational programs for pregnancy and childbirth.
Shaare Zedek also runs “Healthy Friday” lecture series where leading experts from the hospital educate the public about the latest in medical innovations.
Yet another dimension of Shaare Zedek’s crucial role in offering education is its role in developing and promoting new medical discoveries. Shaare Zedek is uniquely positioned with an unmatched perspective of the ethnic and cultural groups it treats. The hospitals research and development company, Mada’it (Scientific) enables Shaare Zedek to conduct research and turn medical innovations into marketable products that benefit people everywhere. Many of these innovative discoveries are showcased at Shaare Zedek’s biannual research conference which is attended by hundreds of health professionals and is widely reported around the world.
The ethical challenges raised by many new medical innovations are profound. Shaare Zedek operates within a framework of Jewish ethics and its Medical Ethics Unit until recently was headed by Prof Avraham Steinberg, author of the Encyclopaedia of Jewish Medical Ethics. These responses to modern medical challenges are applied in many diverse and complex scenarios.