[Hadassah On Call] Courage in Conflict

Straight from Gidon Melmed, executive director of the Hadassah Offices in Israel, comes a year-end update on the Hadassah Medical Organization (HMO).

Melmed first reflects on HMO’s initial response to the October 7, 2023, massacre, establishing an underground emergency hospital and accelerating the opening of the Gandel Rehabilitation Center at Hadassah Hospital Mount Scopus.

Now, two years later, he says, “There’s a very significant kind of fragility to the ceasefire at the moment, but for so many, the journey of recovery and healing has only really just begun.”

Melmed speaks about overcoming the challenge of losing a significant number of Hadassah medical staff to reserve duty while continuing day-to-day operations, likening the situation to Henrietta Szold rising to the challenge and filling a need. It’s the “spirit of Hadassah,” he says.

Hadassah hospitals now serve 1.2 million patients annually, a significant increase over last year, according to Melmed. Surgery, research and innovation are all ongoing.

In terms of innovation and research, Melmed discusses work in breast cancer and neurology and dementia and the use of organoids, surgical robots and augmented reality, which Melmed says Hadassah hospitals are seeing the first implementation of. “It’s an amazing tool that is very exciting because it means we’re conducting a greater degree of certain accuracy in our surgery and operations.”