Hospital is no good place to land but if you have to land in a hospital, choose Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer in Israel.
On November 15, 2015, at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, some 600 Friends of Sheba Medical Center at Tel HaShomer partook in its 45th Anniversary Gala. The event was co-chaired by Rosanne Ziering and Steve Hitter, Myra Clark-Siegel and Israeli Consul General David Siegel as Honorary Chair. Actor Jason Alexander was the host, with actresses Moran Atias of Tyrant and Alona Tal of Pretty Little Liars as special guest presenters.
What you heard was an astonishing attestation that at Sheba you simply cannot give up on life that fast. There they redefine life.
The evening was dedicated to recognizing wounded Israeli soldiers, victims of terror and the dedicated doctors who saved their lives, members of the Medical Team at Sheba Medical Center at Tel HaShomer.
Friends of Sheba Medical Center raised at the gala more than $2 Million to support the world-renowned hospital, home to Israel’s National Center for Rehabilitation of Israel Defense Forces soldiers and all victims of terror in need of long-term care.
Marion Brucker, at 108 years old is Sheba Medical Center’s oldest and longest-standing donor was honored with the organization’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
Evie and Stuart Steinberg, who, since their son Max Steinberg z”l made the ultimate sacrifice when he gave his life defending Israel in summer 2014 war in Gaza are living through unknown territory; they received the Valor and Courage Award and since the passing of Max they have established the Max Steinberg Legacy Fund.
Evie and Stuart Steinberg, who, since their son Max Steinberg z”l made the ultimate sacrifice when he gave his life defending Israel in the summer 2014 war in Gaza, are living through unknown territory. They received the Valor and Courage Award. In honor of Max, the Steinbergs’ are in the process of setting up the Max Steinberg Legacy Fund, through Friends of Sheba Medical Center. Its task is to raise money to assist lone soldiers when receiving care and treatment at Sheba.
At present headed by Professor Zeev Rotstein and named after Dr. Chaim Sheba, its first director as a civilian hospital, Sheba is the largest medical centre in the Middle East.
Founded in 1948 in a cluster of abandoned British Mandate era military barracks in the Tel HaShomer area of Ramat Gan as Israel’s first military hospital, to receive and treat casualties of Israel’s War of Independence, Sheba was originally known as Army Hospital No. 5. David Ben Gurion, Israel’s first Prime Minister, had it renamed Tel HaShomer Hospital and in 1953, it became a civilian hospital.
Situated on a 150-acre campus on the outskirts of Tel Aviv, the Center is comprised of 120 departments and clinics and 1 beds, employing more than 1,300 physicians, 2,400 nurses and 3,300 other healthcare workers, scientists and support staff. Sheba, supported by donations from a network of philanthropists and friends from around the world, requires approximately $320 million in annual budget.
At the gala, we got to know what makes the doctors of Sheba heroes assisting heroes. It is what makes the young men and women in Israel exemplary citizens.
The stories of Colonel Shai Siman-Tov and Adiel Levy sum up what Sheba is all about.
Lieutenant Colonel Shai Siman-Tov
In the summer of 2014 Protective Edge War, Golani’s 12th Battalion commander Lieutenant Colonel Shai Siman-Tov’s battalion was in a ferocious battle in Gaza City’s Shijaiyah neighborhood. His battalion’s mission was to track down attack tunnels. One of them was the tunnel that led to Kibutz Nahal Oz, and that was the tunnel his soldiers were uncovering when he was wounded.
On that July 24th night, the pace of fire and the tanks firing around him was fierce when, from the bombardment, a concrete beam fell on him and injured his spinal cord. The next moment he remembers is at Soroka Hospital in the south. His initial feeling of being in intensive care was one of waste; he thought about his soldiers fighting and him being in the hospital. He didn’t understand the full meaning of the injury.
The feelings of frustration, or helplessness, came later. At first he was sure it was a matter of a few weeks, or maybe a few months, and he would be back with his battalion. Shai was transferred to Sheba for a long term rehabilitation. He first could not even speak. Today, he speaks and smiles but the rehabilitation will be long. Sheba fought for every inch of Shai’s human recovery but he does not consider himself a hero. It is his wife, Daniela, who stood and stands by him, who is the hero, he claims; the heroes are the doctors of Sheba who are putting his life together again, one day at the time.
Staff Sergeant Adiel Levy
Staff Sergeant Adiel Levy, then 20, commanded the Engineering Corps’ bulldozer when it caught fire during Protective Edge War of 2014. He suffered severe burns that endangered his life. The bulldozer was burned when the team destroyed a structure that caused the collapse of an electric pole. A squirrel, covered with oil fell on the hood of the bulldozer, causing it to catch fire inside the cabin. Adiel suggested they jump out of through the flames, and when he and his teammate jumped they were exposed to the fire and got burned.
Adiel was admitted to the burn unit at Sheba Medical Center, under the direction of Prof. Joseph Haik managed by the Plastic Surgery Department under the direction of Prof. Eyal Winkler where he underwent intensive treatment. The dedicated medical staff of the national burns unit at Sheba fought hard to save Adiel’s life when he suffered burns to 55% of his body and was sedated and on a respirator. Today on his feet and in advanced rehabilitation, Adiel is getting ready for one more surgery and to further his education.
Two stories of countless stories attesting to how Sheba saves life.
One can be inspired by the work of Sheba Medical Center. Supporting the Center makes you a partner to what Sheba does best, they do not send you home, they fight for your life until you end up the winner.
A Story of Two in a Wheelchair
Marjorie Pressman, founder of the Friends of Sheba, is shown here in her wheelchair, with Lieutenant Colonel Shai Siman Tov in his wheelchair.
