At the government hospital in Poriya, Helmsley’s $1.85m. grant will support the construction of three operating theaters to supplement the seven existing operating rooms there.
By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICHIsraeli doctors perform heart surgery on a baby from Gaza, at Wolfson Hospital near Tel Aviv (photo credit: REUTERS)
A total of $10 million has been donated to four medical centers by the Leona and Harry Helmsley Charitable Trust.The centers that received funding are the Baruch Padeh Medical Center in Poriya (near Tiberias), Ziv Medical Center in Safed, Wolfson Medical Center in Holon and the future Ariel University Regional Medical Center outpatient facility.The four centers cover an area with a population of one million residents. Since 2010, Helmsley has committed $163m. to a wide range of charitable organizations that seek to strengthen Israel and its people.“We are proud to play a role in helping to expand access to high-quality medical treatment in Israel, especially for those residing in the country’s periphery, areas facing a shortage of hospital facilities and treatment options,” said Sandor Frankel, a trustee of the Helmsley Charitable Trust, on Sunday. “The Health Ministry is spearheading this critical initiative to strengthen medical care and we feel honored to support this endeavor.”At the government hospital in Poriya, Helmsley’s $1.85m. grant will support the construction of three operating theaters to supplement the seven existing operating rooms there.The grant will enable the hospital to expand operating capacity by up to 4,500 surgeries annually and reduce lengthy wait periods for residents of the North.Ziv has been granted $1.64m. toward the establishment of a radiotherapy treatment center for cancer patients A $2m. grant will be dedicated to the construction of a pediatric heart institute and enable Wolfson to complete the first stage of a $35m. children’s hospital on its campus. The hospital serves citizens with significant socioeconomic disadvantages, including residents of Holon, Rishon Lezion, southern Tel Aviv and Bat Yam.Ariel University has been awarded a $4.5m. grant from Helmsley to support the establishment of the Ariel University Regional Medical Center, which will serve the area’s hundreds of thousands of residents.The region presently lacks high-quality emergency and trauma services. It will also serve as a clinical training facility for the university’s health and social sciences students and future medical school, will reduce wait times for medical procedures and diagnostic tests for residents from the center of the country.