Soroka Hospital is preparing for the ongoing conflict and the increasing number of war casualties. As part of this preparation, the hospital is expanding its services and hospital beds, and the management has decided to open an additional rehabilitation department. The new department will provide rehabilitation services to a large number of patients who require post-war care.
According to a recently published Ministry of Health report, Israel has only 60 percent of the average amount of rehabilitation hospitalization beds in developed countries (OECD). At the end of 2022, the rate of rehabilitation beds was only 0.3 beds per 1,000 men, compared to an average of 0.5 per 1,000 men in developed countries.
A rehabilitation department with 20 inpatient beds has been operating in Soroka for the past eight years. It provides treatment in all areas of rehabilitation medicine, including orthopedics, limb amputations, head injuries, cerebrovascular accidents, spinal cord, oncology and serious illnesses, heart surgeries, lung surgeries, and intestinal surgeries.
The opening of an additional rehabilitation department required hiring additional staff and purchasing innovative, cutting-edge rehabilitation technologies.
The new department includes 25 inpatient beds and is located in a protected space in the Legacy Heritage Oncology Center building, which includes treatment complexes and inpatient rooms.
The department will be run by a group of professionals with diverse expertise, including rehabilitation doctors, nursing staff, social workers, physical therapy teams, occupational therapy teams, communication therapists, rehabilitation psychology teams, and nutritionists. The team collaborates to create personalized rehabilitation plans for each patient, working together until the therapeutic goal is achieved.
The team's work includes the use of advanced rehabilitation technologies and systems, such as:
· Virtual Reality system for cognitive and movement rehabilitation
· Virtual-reality balance training stander
· Computerized system for hand rehabilitation
· Computerized system for advanced cognitive rehabilitation
· A system for rehabilitation that involves practice of both hand movements and cognitive skills.
Dr. Yuli Trager, Director of the rehabilitation department at Soroka and chairman of the Israeli Association of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine: " Due to the large number of war casualties, many patients suffer from physical or mental trauma, requiring rehabilitation treatment. Our ultimate goal is to ensure that every individual injured in the war undergoes a rehabilitation assessment. This will help make an informed decision about the need and location of the optimal rehabilitation treatment facility. Every casualty who is a resident of the south will be able to receive multi-disciplinary rehabilitation treatment at our rehabilitation department at Soroka".
Dr. Trager explains: "In the rehabilitation department, a number of casualties are still undergoing acute surgical and/or orthopedic treatment while receiving rehabilitation treatment. This demonstrates the benefit of initiating the rehabilitation process in a general hospital, where patients can be closely monitored by both the surgical and rehabilitation teams. On the second day of the war, the medical staff in the rehabilitation department commenced the evaluation and rehabilitation assessments of the casualties, taking into account the specific nature of their injuries and medical conditions".
