Subscribe to Print Edition | Fri., May 02, 2008 Nisan 27, 5768 | | Israel Time: 02:39 (EST+7) web haaretz.com   Back to Homepage Rosner's Domain Diplomacy Defense Jewish World Opinion National Print Edition Advertising Books Arts & Leisure Business Real Estate Easy Start Travel Week's End Anglo File

Your health - sponsored by a billionaire By Ronny Linder-Ganz Tags: private donations  Several weeks ago the director of one of Israel largest medical centers met with a group of potential donors in the United States. He showed them a photo of a woman injured in a terror attack who was being treated at his hospital. As everyone knows, pictures are worth a thousand words, and the hospital's director did not need to say much more - the donors opened their hearts and their check books, and the director's fund-raising trip was a success. Blood, fire and Zionism are a winning combination. At one of the hospitals in the north there is a joke about whose bust should be cast in bronze and placed on a pedestal in the main lobby. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah's, of course. "Thanks to all the rockets he fired at us, money for upgrading the hospital suddenly began to flow from donors," laughs a senior hospital official. Advertisement Hospitals in the south are also "benefiting" from the rain of Qassam rockets from the Gaza Strip. In peacetime as well as during wars, Israel's hospitals are almost completely dependent on private donations. The budget transferred to them by the state is never enough to cover operating costs, never mind upgrade equipment and buildings. "The hospitals essentially receive no development budgets from the government or the health maintenance services," says Dr. Eran Halperin, CEO of Rabin Medical Center. Donations are the hospitals' life blood, and are used for regular maintenance, upgrading outdated equipment and even reinforcing buildings in confrontation areas. Some of the funding is also used for new hospital buildings and mini-hotels. At Tel Aviv's Ichilov Hospital, for example, most of the expensive radiation therapy, MRI and CT imaging equipment was purchased from donations, with no state funding at all. The story is the same at Haifa's Rambam Medical Center, where donations have paid for an underground parking lot for emergency use, a new children's wing and the refurbishing of nine inpatient departments. The hospitals are full of praise and appreciation for the donors, but also complain bitterly about the stingy government budgets. "Without donations, Israel's hospital system would look like that of a Third World country," say sources at Petah Tikva's Beilinson Hospital. The Schneider Children's Hospital, for example, was built through the generosity of the Schneider family of New York. In this type of reality, fund-raising has become one of the main duties of a hospital CEO, and one of the measures of his success at his job. "The state has turned us into schnorrers, and it's annoying," says Dr. Shimon Sharf, CEO of Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon. "We will soon be building a reinforced emergency room and operating rooms that can withstand Qassams, because the current operating rooms are not safe from bombardment. This project will cost about $80 million, but the state is providing only 27% of that. The rest we have to raise from donations." Sharf meets personally with every donor, "and the more often they visit, the more time I devote to them. I know how important it is to raise money and how much it improves the level of services and equipment here. Small donations are just as important as big ones. Even comfortable chairs for parents of sick children are an important contribution to the service." One example of the importance of a CEO's personality and interpersonal skills is Rambam director, Prof. Rafi Beyar, who has raised over $60 million in the past two years. The donors include the Ofer family ($25 million), Bruce Rapoport ($17 million), Eitan Wertheimer (an undisclosed sum) and Nochi Dankner (about $2 million). Even American super-investor Warren Buffett has helped Rambam, participating in a fund-raising event held in Toronto with Wertheimer's assistance, in which $2 million was raised. Complaints about budget shortfalls and the need for donations can be heard from all over the country, but the small hospitals in the outlying cities suffer more than others. A few weeks ago Dr. Jacob Yahav, director of Rehovot's Kaplan Hospital, made an unprecedented announcement in the media that he would change the name of the hospital for anyone who would donate $200 million. All the hospital's infrastructure needs upgrading, but even Yahav knows he is unlikely to find an individual donor who will offer such a large sum. Kaplan is not alone. A brief tour of other hospitals in the periphery reveals the dismal state of their infrastructure and equipment, poor hospitalization conditions, overcrowded wards and disgraceful neglect. In comparison, the big hospitals in the main cities look more like hotels than hospitals, with opulent buildings, usually named after the donor or a relative; wards featuring private rooms, marble floors, magnificent lobbies and state-of-the-art equipment. For some reason, the big donors prefer to support the larger, more established hospitals, which are actually less desperate for the funds, while the smaller, farther afield hospitals get left behind. "I travel around Israel a lot and see the spectacular towers built by the Safra family (Sheba hospital) and by Shari Arison (Ichilov), but we have tremendous difficulty reaching and raising money from the heavy donors in Israel," says Meir Moskovitch, who chairs the Friends Association of the Rebecca Sieff Hospital in Safed. "If we work really hard we can raise NIS 6-8 million a year, or maybe NIS 10 million after a war. Hospitals in the center of the country, on the other hand, raise tens of millions of shekels every year." The reasons are apparently psychological. "How many people pass by Ichilov and see Ted Arison's name?" asks Moskovitch. "And who will come to Safed to see who donated?" "Israelis should be ashamed of the way donations are distributed so unfairly," says Sharf. "It is unreasonable that 90% of our donations come from abroad. One Israeli donor once told me he was committed to the hospital near where he lived. Then there are American donors who ask me if there are no Israelis who donate to the hospitals." "Donors encourage their friends to donate, too," says Halperin, from the Rabin Medical Center, "and since the wealthiest people are in the center of the country, we naturally formed ties with them. Of course the communities surrounding Safed are less able to give similarly large donations." Even so, the Second Lebanon War improved this situation a bit. Nochi Dankner's IDB Group, for example, has donated NIS 25 million to confrontation-line hospitals in the North and the South since August 2006, for new maternity departments, pediatric wards, urgent care departments, emergency equipment and more. Sammy Ofer, who previously donated $45 million to Ichilov, decided recently to donate $25 million to Rambam and $7 million to Be'er Sheva's Soroka Medical Center for cardiac surgery and intensive care units. "Of course the Second Lebanon War heightened the sense of urgency," says one of Ofer's associates. Another problem often encountered by hospitals that attract large sums from individual donors is their desire to support a particular department. "Pediatrics and oncology, or a combination of the two, are the most popular," says one hospital director. Still, each hospital has a "friends" association for raising funds, and they present donors with each hospital's most pressing needs. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Hamas on the Holocaust Al-Aqsa TV claims Jews concocted the Holocaust. Grasping genocide How a non-Jew in Israel came to understand the Holocaust.   1.   We no longer donate 12:22  |  former US citizen 01/05/08   2.   Donations: Jewish Assets in America $1trillion 12:41  |  dov epstein 01/05/08   3.   Hospital fund raising effort 17:49  |  Barbara Gold 01/05/08

Read & React IDF chief: We take calls for Israel's destruction seriously Responses: 152 Israel Harel: Jewish guilt over Gaza deaths weakens us in fight for Israel's existence Responses: 161 Hamas TV: 'Satanic Jews' planned, perpetrated Holocaust Responses: 151 Palestinians: IDF kills 62-year-old Gazan; 9 Qassams hit Negev Responses: 69 Mofaz, at Yale: Iran could have nuke bomb technology this year Responses: 34 More Headlines 22:21 Police summon PM for urgent questioning under caution 20:24 IDF chief at Auschwitz: We take calls for Israel's destruction seriously 17:34 Hamas TV claims 'Satanic Jews' planned, perpetrated Holocaust 02:20 Rice: Israelis and Palestinians must agree on final borders 22:56 Yellow patch, Blue victory: U.K. media praise Grant after Chelsea win 21:12 Ma'aleh Adumim mayor: I got impression that gov't plans to divide J'lem 12:03 Son gets Dad's Auschwitz tattoo on own arm 23:33 Leftist group: Police barring us from monitoring Hebron settlers 01:02 Eitan's wheeling and dealing keeps Pensioners Party intact 20:07 Top U.S. official: America would look favorably on PA request for additional funding 16:36 South Africa withdraws request to host 'Durban 2' conference Previous Editions Select Day 01 may 30 apr 29 apr 28 apr 27 apr 25 apr 24 apr 23 apr 22 apr 21 apr 20 apr 18 apr

Special Offers Advertisement Pardes Institute Summer Sessions http://www.pardes.org.il/ FAREWELL ISRAEL New Film The Coming War for Islamic Revival - View Movie Trailer The interest rates haven't changed But your profits will! Learn Hebrew online with Israel's best teachers Sign up for a trial lesson today Free the Palestinians from: Corrupt Kleptocracy, Tyrannical Theocracy, Abysmal Anarchy Fattal Hotel Chain Perfectly located hotels on best resorts of Israel. ISRAEL BONDS Build Israel Israel bonds - a multi-purpose way to celebrate Israel's 60th Eldan Rent a Car Israel's leading car rental company offers you a 20% discount on all online reservations Junkyard Junk a car - get free towing nationwide and a tax-deductible receipt

Home | TV | Print Edition | Diplomacy | Opinion | Arts & Leisure | Sports | Jewish World | Underground | Site rules |

Real Estate in Israel

Haaretz.com, the online edition of Haaretz Newspaper in Israel, offers real-time breaking news, opinions and analysis from Israel and the Middle East. Haaretz.com provides extensive and in-depth coverage of Israel, the Jewish World and the Middle East, including defense, diplomacy, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the peace process, Israeli politics, Jerusalem affairs, international relations, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the Israeli business world and Jewish life in Israel and the Diaspora.

© Copyright  Haaretz. All rights reserved