[Western Galilee Hospital in Nahariya--50+ years]

Initially beginning as a small birthing center, the Western Galilee Hospital (WGH) in Nahariya is now the largest hospital in Galilee. It serves a demographically mixed Israeli population of more then 400,000, the Galilee's mosaic of Jews, Moslems, Christians, Druze and large immigrant populations from the former Soviet Union and Ethiopia. The hospital is also a treatment center for IDF and UN soldiers. The staff, which reflects the ethnically mixed population of the region, is a long-standing model of cooperation and peaceful coexistence. Doctors and nurses of different faiths and cultural backgrounds work together in harmony and with respect to achieve a mutual goal: to provide the best and finest medical treatment to all in need. The hospital's proximity to the Lebanese border, together with its previous experience as the target of Katyusha rocket fire, has forced management to construct underground facilities for emergency situations. Five-hundred beds and eight modern operating rooms that are fully protected from conventional, biological and chemical warfare are an integral part of the preparedness program. The entire staff participates in preparatory drills for mass casualty events. WGH is a forerunner in quality of medical care. To date it is the only Israeli hospital to meet the demanding standards for ISO 9000 2000 certification for quality management, and has now adopted the standards of the European Federation of Quality Management (EFQM). The hospital won the Rabin National Award for Quality in 1995.