Hillel Yaffe Medical Center: Wrapping up a year that's wowed us all!

As we get ready to celebrate the start of the Jewish year of 5778, there is no better time to stop, breathe deeply and review events, and in this case: what happened at Hillel Yaffe Medical Center over the past year. 

The scope of Hillel Yaffe Medical Center’s activity shows consistent growth each year in various respects. This past year, over 4,600 babies were born at Hillel Yaffe, up 11.5% over the previous year. One hundred of them were sets of twins and two sets of triplets. By the way, boys actually outnumbered girls this year (250 more boys than girls). The reason for the baby boom in our delivery rooms is evidently due to the fact that the structure and infrastructure of the Maternity Division was significantly upgraded, and it expanded the services provided, including increasing the number of services provided to women undergoing fertility treatments in the IVF unit, opening the Perinatal Genetic Counseling Clinic, opening of new clinics in the High-Risk Pregnancy Unit and more.

Like the year before it, the Emergency Room was very busy this year, 5777, with over 12,000 visits (3.4% growth), and almost one third of those patients required hospitalization, meaning over 40,000 people. The number of surgeries performed at the hospital each year is also on the rise, exceeding 12,000 in various fields, representing close to 4% growth over the previous year. Another impressive figure is the number of people who visit the hospital's outpatient clinics and institutes, which broke last year’s record to reach almost 274,000 patients, up by 3.5% over the previous year.

Director General Dr. Mickey Dudkiewicz accepting the JCI certificate of accreditation

5777 was a very good year for Hillel Yaffe Medical Center in terms of quality and excellence. The hospital passed the JCI survey with flying colors and was awarded accreditation, indicating that it meets the world's highest medical quality and safety standards. That same month, the medical center earned additional praise from the Ministry of Health for meeting the Ministry’s quality of care indicators. Both of these important milestones proved, yet again, that the medical center’s staff is not resting on its laurels. In addition to their complex work, they are always striving to improve all aspects of the service provided to patients.

Another significant aspect of Hillel Yaffe's activity is the establishment of the new Friends of Hillel Yaffe Medical Center association, headed by Mr. Moshe Morag. The association, which was established this past year, celebrated its founding with a very impressive event held at the Elma Hotel in Zichron Ya'akov, during which they raised funds for a unique device for colonoscopies (Fuse), which costs approximately NIS 1 million.

At the same time, the hospital continued to strengthen its relationship with the community by having its doctors provide a variety of lectures at different community events, organizing specialized conferences for its patients in various fields, such as gastroenterology, oncology and AIDS, organizing joint activities for the community, such as an event dedicated to breastfeeding and an activity by the Physical Therapy Institute for the third age. The medical center also strengthened its relationship with the heads of the regional councils and organized visits to the hospital by their representatives.

In terms of construction, the hospital isn’t twiddling its thumbs either, and is constantly busy making improvements, changes and renovation of existing structures in oder to improve conditions. Accordingly, as mentioned above, this year the Maternity Division significantly expanded the services it offers, as did additional departments and units - a new Pain Unit, Orthopedic Oncology Service and Neuro-ophthalmology Service (vision disorders stemming from the nervous system and the brain) were opened. But those are only some of the innovations at the hospital.

In terms of academia and research, the hospital continues to provide centers of excellence - the number of outstanding instructors recognized this year by the Faculty of Medicine reached 13 specialists, and alongside them, students at the School of Nursing, headed by Dr. Merav Ben Natan, continued the impressive 100% pass rate on the national licensing exams for the fourth straight year.

Dr. Mickey Dudkiewicz, Director General of Hillel Yaffe Medical Center, summed up the year, “When I stop and take a look at everything we’ve done here over the past year, I feel a tremendous sense of satisfaction, a “wow!” feeling. It’s unbelievable how much we've achieved in a single year. The second word is: ‘thank you.’ Thanks to all of the employees in all professionals and fields, who perform complex and extremely important work. I also want to extend my incredible gratitude to our volunteers and patrons, and many thanks to our patients, whose thank-you letters make us feel that our daily work to improve, streamline, repair and innovate - is all worth it. I’m positive that we will continue our extensive work, will grow and expand, advance and improve, and most importantly, help everyone who comes through our doors be healthier.”