Rambam Health Care Campus

History

Rambam Health Care Campus is the largest medical center in northern Israel, serving more than 2,000,000 residents, and is the tertiary referral center for 12 northern hospitals. It is located in the city of Haifa, which is known for cultural and religious pluralism. Founded by the British Mandatory Government in 1938, it was renamed ‘Rambam’ (Maimonides) in 1948. The Faculty of Medicine was established on its campus in 1974 as a Technion affiliate, and transformed Rambam Medical Center into Rambam Health Care Campus, a premier academic medical centre.

Profile

The Oncology Centre at Rambam Medical Centre is divided into several departments and units, enabling integrated care in all aspects important for cancer patients. Every year the Oncology Center receives more than 3,000 new patients. There are two departments for treating hospitalized patients, with 46 beds in each. One specializes in chemotherapy, whether curative or palliative, and the other specializes in radiotherapy. Both wards also care for patients with adverse reactions to oncological therapies. Patients who do not require hospitalization are followed and treated in several ambulatory units:

• Out-Patient Clinics, where each patient is followed by a physician
• Day Care Unit, where chemotherapy is given and which also serves as an Emergency Room during the daytime for all cancer patient emergencies. Every day, some 100 patients receive oncology treatments in the unit.
• Radiotherapy Unit, where curative and palliative radiotherapy is delivered. The unit works with four accelerators and treats over 250 patients every day.
• Palliative Clinic, providing pain control and treating cancer-related symptoms. In 2010, all the activities of the Palliative Clinic - psychological support, nutrition clinic and complementary services - were united and recognized by our Ministry of Health as an "Integrated Oncology and Palliative Care Unit".

There are 175 staff members in the Oncology Centre, including nurses, physicians, radiotherapy technicians, psychologists, social workers and others.

Specialities

The Palliative Team - Rambam Health Care Center

Physicians

1.     Dr. Gil Bar-Sela, Senior Oncologist, Director
2.     Dr. Daniella Zalman, Senior Oncologist
3.     Dr. Ezequiel Flechter, Oncology Resident
4.     Dr. Ana Kleiser, Pain Control Specialist

Nurses

1.     Mrs. Anat Omer, Palliative Nurse
2.     Mrs. Sara Danos, Out-Patient Clinic Nurse

Social Workers

1.     Mrs. Shlomit Bagon
2.     Mrs. Adi Shilat

Psychologists

1.     Mrs. Doron Lulav-Grinwald
2.     Mrs. Inbal Mitnik
3.     Mr. Mark Sherman

Spiritual Support Givers

1.     Mrs. Nomi Segal
2.     Mr. Dodo Lev

Nutritionist

    Mrs. Noga Ziv

Palliative and Supportive Care

The Palliative Clinic, treating pain control and cancer-related symptoms, such as dysphagia, dyspnea, ascites, weakness, nutrition problems and cancer fatigue, is available four times weekly for patients with uncontrolled symptoms who present to any of the oncology units. In urgent cases, the integrated team can also see these patients ad hoc; on other days, care is coordinated by the palliative nurse (the nurse's phone number is available to the patients known to the palliative team). The team makes regular rounds in the Department of Oncology to screen for patients needing palliative care. The team also offers professional services to other departments in the hospital.