Shaare Tzedek Gets $5M for Trauma Research

Besides being one of the main hospitals serving Yerushalayim, Shaare Tzedek hospital will take on a new role – that of a Level One Trauma Center to treat strokes and other brain conditions. Thanks to a gift from the New York-based Helmsley Charitable Trust, the hospital will hire new staff and open a research center to help save lives.

After cancer and heart disease, stroke is the third-biggest cause of death in Israel, and Shaare Tzedek, located in central Yerushalayim, has been forced to deal with a higher percentage of terror victims affected by brain disorders than any other hospital in the country. Although a trauma center exists at Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital as well, the fact that Shaare Tzedek is closer to the city center means that patients brought there may have a greater chance of survival, given the extra minutes saved and quicker care they can receive because of the hospital’s proximity to many of Yerushalayim’s residential neighborhoods.

The Helmsley Neurological Center, as the new project is known, was made possible by a $5 million gift from the Helmsley Charitable Trust, based on the fortune of New York real estate and hotel moguls Harry and Leona Helmsley. The Trust has donated over $170 million to projects in Israel since 2010.

Yerushalayim Mayor Nir Barkat praised the project, saying that it was “a significant contribution that will boost the city’s ability to protect itself, and advance medical care and research in the city.”