The Azrieli Foundation has donated $10 million dollars for a hybrid catheterization room in the new Children’s Hospital in Wolfson Holon. This donation is one of many given by the Foundation to leading medical establishments in Israel.
The hybrid operating room – the first of its kind in Israel – will enable medical teams to perform complex pediatric heart surgery and catheterization procedures under one roof. The hybrid environment allows all relevant medical specialists (i.e., a heart surgeon, cardiologist, catheterization specialist and imaging team) to come together for greater efficiency.
Located on the Azrieli Foundation floor of the hospital, the operating room will allow cardiology specialists to shorten open-heart surgery operating times and provide surgical backup for high-risk catheterization, without needing to move patients from one department to another.
According to Dr. Sagi Assa, Head of the Interventional Pediatric Cardiology Unit at Wolfson Hospital, this new operating room offers a combination available in only a few hospitals in the world.
“Every image of the child’s heart captured by a CT scan, MRI or echocardiogram can be reproduced by the system in a 3D image,” says Dr. Assa. “This creates accuracy of the heart’s image to the millimeter and enables procedures like complex valve implants, allowing us to replace more surgeries with catheterizations, which are easier and safer procedures.”
Dr. Assa says this “innovative space significantly reduces the amount of radiation exposure for both the medical staff and the patient. The room has a special system which sends out alerts on the level of radiation in real time. In addition, the control room is built like a theater, with extra-large viewing windows that allow other professionals to watch and learn from the medical procedures in real time.”
“We are very pleased to make this donation which will transform the way surgeries are performed at Wolfson – and in Israel,” says Danna Azrieli, Chair of the Azrieli Group and Co-chair of the Azrieli Foundation Israel. “We donated to Wolfson because of its extraordinary work with Save a Child’s Heart and its incredible impact on the lives of so many Israelis in the Gush Dan area.”
“We have long provided extensive support to the healthcare field in Israel,” notes Dr. Naomi Azrieli, Chair and CEO of the Azrieli Foundation. “Our intent is to help boost Israel’s world-class healthcare system as it continues to provide outstanding medical care for all Israeli residents.”
About the Azrieli Foundation
With a firm belief that everyone has a contribution to make, the Azrieli Foundation has been opening doors, breaking ground, and nurturing networks for more than 30 years. The Foundation funds institutions and operates programs in Canada and Israel.
