The Healing Power of Hadassah’s Pediatric Unit on Mount Scopus

If there was ever an ideal person to promote the values of the Hadassah Medical Organizations’ mission and philosophy, then it is Talia Cohen, the head nurse of Pediatrics at Hadassah Hospital Mt. Scopus in Jerusalem.

As Talia reflects, “Hadassah pediatric nurses recognize that children need a unique treatment. Nurses must continue learning and improving their skills, as well as being compassionate towards the children and their parents. You need patience with the children and their parents. The Israeli people know that there is a place for them that is clean, professional, and caring. There are beds for the parents to sleep in overnight with their children, there is food for parents to eat, and there are professionals to help with the physical and mental challenges their children are facing. This is what the Hadassah Medical Organization is about. The patient experience is very important.”

How did Talia arrive at Hadassah Pediatrics? Talia was born in Israel, at Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem, to parents who met in Israel and made Aliya from England. She was raised in Neve Tzuf and Jerusalem and went to high school in Ofra where she met her husband, Shlomi. They married and now have four daughters.

After high school, she chose to do her National Service with Magen David Adom (Israel’s emergency ambulance service). It was the height of the Intifada in 2002, and she was part of a team that was sent to sites where terrorist attacks had occurred. “I understood that the country needed nurses and medics, and I wanted to make a difference in people’s lives, even one life.”

Talia enrolled at the Hadassah School of Nursing. Her career took her to hospitals and clinics in the Jerusalem area, and finally to the Hadassah Medical Organization. At one point she thought of becoming a midwife (she worked in the Labor and Delivery department) but after working with premature babies for two years and in the Neonatal ICU department for six years, children became her passion.

When Hadassah Hospital Mount Scopus was looking for a head nurse for their Children’s Department, it was clear that Talia Cohen was the woman for the job. While visiting her department it was apparent to me that she is loved and respected by all her staff and colleagues.

“My door is always open,” stated Talia. “My responsibilities are to my nursing staff, who need someone to listen to them and take care of them. It is important that they feel appreciated both professionally and socially. I advocate for them with the management and encourage management and staff to work together for the common good of the children and their parents. I am also in charge of maintenance issues. If there is a problem in our ward with something not working, broken, or missing, I need to see that the problem is resolved. I help my nurses to build internal strength to cope with whatever situation arises. We see that we are there for the children and their parents at the right time and the right place to help them.”

Talia is proud of her heterogeneous staff, women and men from all sectors and religions in Israel. She says, “When you save lives together and work together you become friends, and you connect with one another.” Her department, which includes 23 beds, reflects the people of Israel as well. There are Jews, Arabs, Christians, and children from the age of a few days, up to 21 years old. The nurses know how to deal with temporary illnesses, surgery patients, and young people with chronic illnesses. “You can take a nurse from pediatrics and put them in any department in the hospital, and they will know what to do,” Talia humbly acknowledges.

When asked to give an example of a special child her nurses cared for, Talia describes one of many special cases. A 17-year-old boy with Down’s Syndrome was admitted to their ward. He was suffering from a heart problem and was sent to their pediatrics to recover. When he arrived, he could not get out of bed, walk, dress, or shower himself. Talia’s nurses and the physical therapists worked with him day and night.

By the time he left the hospital, he was walking, dressing, and showering himself. “My nurses helped him to regain the independence he had before he came into the hospital. I am so proud of my staff!”

In addition, she describes one of the many innovative projects she and her nurses are developing. They are organizing a conference for Pediatric Department nurses, from both the Mount Scopus and Ein Kerem hospital campuses. The nurses will highlight projects and programs they have initiated in their departments. Not only will this allow for a shared learning experience among the nurses but will enable them to display their accomplishments and create an opportunity to collaborate.

When asked to give another example of how Hadassah promotes collaborative work she explains the following idea, “The Hadassah Medical Organization has a ‘Shadowing Program,’ in which once in a nurse’s and doctor’s career they follow each other throughout their day. Each nurse has the opportunity to see the doctor’s daily schedule and understand how hard they work, as well as allowing the doctor to ‘shadow’ the nurse during their day to get a sense of the challenges they face. This enables the two professions to develop an empathy for the other as they continue to find ways to work together to better the patient’s care and experience.”

Talia and her staff, as well as the Hadassah Medical Organization recently completed the grueling process of receiving accreditation from the Joint Commission International (JCI), which identifies, measures, and shares best practices in quality and patient safety with the world.

When asked if she had a wish to make as to what would make lives better in Israel, Talia states, “I would wish that all ill children would have a place to go to get the perfect treatment in a warm and loving professional environment. The Hadassah Medical Organization recognizes a child needs a holistic approach to healing, both physical and mental. And of course, that there will be no more wars in Israel.”

Amen, Talia.

This article is dedicated to the memory of Staff Sgt. Omer Van Gelder who, along with two other soldiers, was killed on Tuesday, June 4^th when an explosive device blew up near their Hummer in northern Gaza.  Staff Sgt. Van Gelder was the nephew of Talia’s assistant head nurse, Yifat, second from the left in the photograph. Van Gelder had a dream of becoming a doctor and saving lives.

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Karen is a member of the Hadassah Writers’ Circle, a dynamic and diverse writing group for leaders and members to express their thoughts and feelings about all the things Hadassah does to make the world a better place, to celebrate their personal Hadassah journeys and to share their Jewish values, family traditions and interpretations of Jewish texts.  Since 2019, the Hadassah Writers’ Circle has published nearly 450 columns in the Times of Israel Blog and other Jewish media outlets. Interested? Please contact hwc@hadassah.org.