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| Emergency Entrance |
Nazareth Hospital EMMS is an Israeli hospital, licensed and accredited by the Israel Ministry of Health as a District General Hospital, and has the region’s main trauma center. It is owned by The Nazareth Trust (the operating name of EMMS Nazareth, a charity registered in Scotland and comprised of leaders from Israel, UK, and USA.
District General hospital for its region, Nazareth Hospital EMMS serves a catchment area of 264,000 and employs well over 400 people. Its staff represents the demographic of the region. Nazareth is home to many of Northern Israel's Arab citizens, Muslim, Christian, and Druze families. Families living in the neighboring Nazareth Illit are predominately Jewish (80%).
District General hospital for its region, Nazareth Hospital EMMS serves a catchment area of 264,000 and employs well over 400 people. Its staff represents the demographic of the region. Nazareth is home to many of Northern Israel's Arab citizens, Muslim, Christian, and Druze families. Families living in the neighboring Nazareth Illit are predominately Jewish (80%).
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| Nurses with young patient and his family |
In operation for 150 years, Nazareth Hospital EMMS continues to work hard in upholding its mission: To provide quality healthcare in a spirit of love to all who need it, regardless of ethnic background, religion, or ability to pay. Nazareth Hospital remains an example of co-existence and cooperation between people of diverse faiths and ethnic identities.
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| Labor & Delivery Staff |
The Hospital also has the main psychiatry department in the region, and is the only psychiatric care facility in Israel whose staff are able to provide Arab patients with mental health services in their first language.
In 2010, the Hospital provided 13,815 sessions of dialysis. It is the main hospital for dialysis for Nazareth and nearby villages and deals with many complicated kidney patients due to the high rate of diabetes and renal failure among the Arab population in Israel.
The following are some ways that Nazareth Hospital has promoted and encouraged cultural adjustment, bridge-building, and making people more receptive to co-existence.
· Hospital management encouraged staff to attend courses at the Summer Peacebuilding Institute (SPI) in Harrisonburg, Virginia, USA.
· In preparation for their community outreach to parents, entitled, Parenting to Prevent Violence, nursing students focus on communication and conflict management skills. The school’s director, Dr. Amal Khazin, has published two books (in Arabic) as parenting resources. NPI funded this publication through grants awarded by private US foundations.
· Recently, the hospital hosted a series of meetings facilitated by NATAL: Israel trauma center for victims of terror and war, a Jewish NGO, and an Arab representative of the Abraham Fund. The purpose of these meetings is to share experiences and ideas on how to deal with trauma, either in the event of war or personal traumatic experience, working together on finding solutions.
These are some of the avenues through which NPI and Nazareth Hospital have worked to equip staff and students with knowledge of transformative approaches to Conflict in order to integrate these approaches among their colleagues, students, patients, and broader community. SPI participants report personal growth as well as finding practical tools for their roles as leaders in a diverse work environment. Dr. Khazin’s books have encouraged a climate of openness among parents to discuss their struggles instead of be ashamed of them. Many parents, especially women, have confided in Dr. Khazin, “I no longer feel isolated. I now know that I’m not the only one who struggles.”
Operating within Israel's health care system as a non-government institution, the hospital needs help from international friends like Nazareth Project Inc. to fund capital improvements, patient care to the uninsured, the chaplaincy department, and other special projects.
