Soroka Medical Center, located in Beer-Sheva, is one of Israel’s largest, most active, and most strategically significant hospitals, serving more than million residents in a region that comprises 60% of the country’s land area. In light of the hospital’s location, the Department of Emergency Medicine and the Trauma Unit face unique challenges. We are proud that this department was declared a National Center of Excellence by Clalit Health Services this year.
When it was opened in its new format in 2001, the Emergency Department (ED) at Soroka was the most modern such facility in the country. Even then it was busy and crowded. Today, it has become the busiest and most crowded in Israel, with more than 287,000 visits annually. It is safe to say that few EDs around the world have a comparable scope of activity.
Soroka Medical Center is a strategic asset for the State of Israel and the country’s “iron dome of health” in routine times and during emergencies, serving and saving civilians and IDF soldiers alike.
Just 40 kilometers from the Gaza Strip, Soroka provides trauma and acute care to the residents of the Negev as well as IDF soldiers serving in or near the Negev. Located adjacent to the main north-to-south highway, Soroka also provides emergency and trauma care for the far too many patients injured in motor vehicle accidents. Moreover, the rate of injured children is high in the Negev region, and many of these patients are brought to Soroka for surgery. Desert hikers are also among those who arrive for surgery following accidents in the field.
In the early morning of Shabbat and the holiday of Simchat Torah, October 7, 2023, the sound of sirens pierced the skies, and all of Israel (and indeed the world) awoke to a new reality, something we had never experienced.
Missiles were launched, and terrorists infiltrated towns and villages across southern Israel. There was widespread shooting. The treatment of casualties was delayed in the field for hours on end, and, to add to our horror, many soldiers and civilians were abducted to Gaza. The magnitude of the event was overwhelming. The number of wounded, the severity of the injuries, and the rate at which they arrived at our Emergency Department all challenged our treatment capacity. On the first day of the war, we treated over 670 casualties, more than 130 of them seriously or critically injured.
The Frances and Nathan Kirsh Emergency Department
Our emergency department has been the busiest in the country, even before the war. Every year, we set new records for the number of patients who come in seeking medical attention. Since the current ED was opened some 20 years ago, we have seen an increase of 35% in patient visits - tens of thousands of patients more. In the past 5 years alone, there has been an increase of 10% in patient visits to the ED. Despite the impact of the war, we have continued to see a rise in the number of patients seeking emergency care, setting yet another record. The high volume of patients requires an adequate facility with a larger space to accommodate them and provide a suitable environment for the medical team to deliver exceptional care. Early on October 7th, we doubled the number of trauma beds at each of the 6 treatment bays, allowing us to treat two critically wounded patients at each bay and a total of 12 casualties simultaneously, with a total of over 130 throughout the first day. This increase in capacity enabled us to provide timely life-saving treatment to everyone who needed it and clearly demonstrates the need to expand our trauma unit.
The total area of the new expanded emergency department will increase by 21,500 square feet, which is a 50% increase. Forty-four emergency beds will be added, and the Trauma Unit will be expanded by 2,640 square feet with a third more trauma beds added.
The expanded ED will be divided into wings: two acute care wings, the walk-in wing, the orthopedic wing, and the Trauma wing as well as the triage area, family waiting areas, on-call physicians’ rooms, and treatment bays. In each of the wings, we are planning to have a central command center operated by nurses and physicians to enable better monitoring of patients. It will also include isolation rooms, a standardized medication room (which we currently lack), and will enable us to improve our medical simulation capabilities using the trauma area (when not in-use for treating trauma cases) for medical simulation training. The new area will include a dedicated area for patients and families' welfare, with an information kiosk for updated patient status, food vendor area, waiting and rest areas, and more.
Donor Opportunities Please Contact:
Rachel Heisler Sheinfeld | Executive Director
American Friends of Soroka Medical Center
Office: 914-725-9070 | Mobile: 914-582-6750
