At present, Shaare Zedek is actively involved with the development of the Wilf Children's Hospital, which will serve as an advanced medical facility to address the widest variety of pediatric medical conditions and injuries.  With construction well underway, the project is projected for continue for approximately two years. In March of 2008, the first phase of the project opened with the Glaubach Department of Pediatric Emergency Medicine.  Positioned to quickly become Jerusalem's most active urgent care facility for treating pediatric emergency cases, the Department was designed in line with the highest standards of user-friendliness and overall aesthetics. 

Taking childrens' unique emotional sensitivities into account, the Department, like all planned areas of the Wilf Children's Hospital, has included bright colors and "child-friendly" furniture to make hospitalization an experience that need not be traumatic for the child and his or her parent. 

This is a philosophy that carries over to all aspects of the Pediatric Department's activities where doctors and nurses are committed to providing parents and children with a warm and supportive environment.  This includes ensuring that patients and their families are always made fully aware of all aspects of their care and what they should be expecting. 

An indication of this can be seen while walking the halls of the Department where visitors are likely to see children interacting with Shaare Zedek’s team of “medical clowns.” Beyond being committed to helping children and their families laugh, these clowns are highly trained in assisting patients in momentarily forgetting about their pain.  Clowns often accompany children to specific tests where their presence can assist the medical teams in calming the patients.  It is well known, and even medically proven, that laughter and happiness truly can be the best medicine and this is an understanding that Shaare Zedek, and the Department of Pediatric in particular strongly embraces for each and every patient.

Advanced medicine with compassionate care…this is the pledge for each and every patient.

Lincoln David Abraham Paediatric Educational Institute
At Shaare Zedek Medical Center, even while a child is receiving medical care, we work to ensure that he or she need not fall behind on their studies due to their hospitalization. Towards that end, Shaare Zedek proudly offers the services of the Lincoln David Abraham Paediatric Educational Institute as a fully operating school, recognized by Israel’s Ministry of Education.

The Institute employs a team of teachers who work in a one on one framework with children on their studies. The Institute’s staff are also in direct contact with the student’s teachers in their traditional educational framework to make certain they remain on pace with their peers. Tests and assignments are often faxed back and forth between the Institute and the child’s school so that when the child is released they can quickly dive back into their studies will little or no detriment.

Such a situation is critical for a child’s educational development particularly in those cases where a patient may need to remain at Shaare Zedek for periods of several weeks or in some cases even longer. The emotional impact of retaining a regular learning schedule for these students is also seen as important for their overall wellbeing by maintaining a sense of purpose and educational development despite being outside of school. Children receive assignments and “homework” to do even after hours, which also enables them to pass the many long hours in a hospital bed.

Within the Institute is an extensive children’s library with books for children of all ages. A movie library is also made available to the children offering both educational an entertainment films and programs. Several computers stations are used by the children and staff members and volunteers work with the patients to acquaint them with the programs and even offer training on general computer use.

The Institute works hard to provide children with creative outlets at all times and many art projects and related efforts are always taking place all throughout the year. Recent examples of projects produced by the students include a “Tree of Dreams” where students wrote up messages of what they hoped for and then artfully created a tree whose branches were used to support those messages. The tree now hangs in the Department of Paediatrics as an inspiration to all who visits. The Institute also produces a student newspaper several times a year with a wide variety of submissions from patients.

The Lincoln David Abraham Paediatric Educational Institute will become an integral part of the new Wilf Children’s Hospital, upon which construction is scheduled to begin the coming months.

Most of our senior physicians have been trained in North-America, and are already highly reputable in their field of expertise.

Our Team
Prof. Yechiel Schlesinger,  Head, Pediatrics Department & Pediatric Division
Dr. Matti Erlichman- Head, Pediatric Emergency Medicine
Dr. Dan Turner - Head, Pediatric Gastroenterology Unit
Dr. Hagit Miskin - Head, Pediatric Hematology Unit
Dr. Meir Goldberg - Head, Pediatric Surgery Unit
Dr. Sarit Shachrur Karni - Acting Head, Pediatric ICU
Prof. Elie Picard - Head, Pediatric Pulmonology Unit
Dr. Penina Navon - Head, Pediatric Rheumatology Unit and Day Hospital
Prof. Yaacov Frishberg - Head, Institute of Pediatric Kidney Disease
Prof. Ruth Shalev - Head, Pediatric Neurology and Child Development Unit
Dr. Dan Fink- Head, Pediatric Cardiology Unit
Prof. Michael Kaplan - Head, Neonatology Department
Prof. Michael Schimmel - Head, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
Prof. Kathy Hammerman, Head, Newborns Unit
Dr. Reeval Peled Segel, expert in Medical Genetics
Dr. Tali Foa-Shauli, Chief Resident
Dr. Yael Amit, Chief Resident