HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MAIMONIDES!

BROOKLYN’S HEALTHCARE LEADER CELEBRATES 110 YEARS OF EXCELLENCE WITH STELLAR VIRTUAL GALA; HONORS ALICE ADJMI AS WOMAN OF THE CENTURY

BAILA FEUERSTEIN

ON SEPTEMBER 14TH, MAIMONIDES MEDICAL CENTER WILL MARK ITS MILESTONE 110TH BIRTHDAY WITH A SPECTACULAR, STAR-STUDDED VIRTUAL GALA THAT WILL HONOR THE PAST, CELEBRATE THE PRESENT, AND RECOGNIZE INDIVIDUALS WHO ARE SHAPING THE FUTURE. THE IMPRESSIVE SLATE OF HONOREES INCLUDES MAIMONIDES BOARD CHAIRMAN EUGENE KEILIN AND WIFE JOANNE WITTY; BARCLAYS CENTER AND BROOKLYN NETS CEO JOHN ABBAMONDI; AND RENOWNED COMMUNITY HESED ACTIVIST ALICE ADJMI. ADDING CACHE AND CHARISMA TO THE BROADCAST ARE THE EVENING’S VIRTUAL HOSTS: EMMY AWARD-WINNING BROADCAST PERSONALITY RITA COSBY, AND BROOKLYN-BORN LATE-NIGHT TALK SHOW LUMINARY JIMMY KIMMEL. ACTRESS MARISA TOMEI, WHO WAS BORN AT MAIMONIDES AND WON AN ACADEMY AWARD FOR HER PORTRAYAL OF A QUIRKY BROOKLYN ARCHETYPE IN THE MOVIE MY COUSIN VINNIE, WILL DELIVER BIRTHDAY GREETINGS.

In 1911, history was made when a women’s Bikur Holim group came together in South Brooklyn to open a small dispensary. Their goal was to provide local immigrant communities with qualified medical care, and education on modern health and sanitary practices. Through the years, their vision and initiative lived on. The small dispensary expanded and merged, changing its name from the New Utrecht Dispensary to Israel Hospital to Israel Zion Hospital, until it grew into the state-of-the-art medical center ultimately renamed Maimonides.

Like those intrepid women of the last century, and Jewish mothers since time immemorial, Gala Honoree Alice Adjmi exemplifies her community’s grand tradition of hesed. Alice is all about helping people. Whether it’s health, social services, education, civics, Torah causes or worthy tzedaka projects of any kind, public or private, Alice’s leadership and tireless efforts improve people’s lives and have a far-reaching impact on the future. This includes her long-standing advocacy and support for the life-saving work of Maimonides.

In 2016, the year she and husband Harry dedicated Maimonides’ emergency waiting room, Alice literally took a tour of Wonderland. First, she suited up in the surgical “bunny suit” to visit the hospital’s innovative hybrid operating rooms—New York City’s first and still Brooklyn’s only hybrid operating rooms for multi-disciplinary surgery, offering the most advanced imaging technology with virtual reality software. Following her tour of the Heart & Vascular Institute, she visited the world-class Breast Center and Breast Imaging Center of Excellence. Both experiences moved her profoundly, and inspired her to continue her promotion and support. “All of our families have been touched by the heartache of illness and disease. How can we stand by and not do something to try and make it a little easier, a little better, for the next family facing these challenges?”

Alice champions Maimonides as the community’s unsung hero and is quick to debrief the notion that anything located in Manhattan is somehow superior. “Anyone who has ever had an unsatisfactory experience at a Manhattan hospital can tell you, location is no guarantee of outcome,” she asserts. “When the unthinkable happens, it’s not the location of the hospital that matters but our proximity to it that makes all the difference. When injury or illness strikes, we don’t waste precious time in traffic to get across the river. We go to Maimonides, the life-saving resource that we are fortunate to have right here, in our own backyard.”

Nationally recognized for clinical excellence and world-class physicians, Maimonides serves as the tertiary care hub for patients across the borough, including the Brooklyn Sephardic community. It serves the community in every stage of life with compassion for its needs and unique respect for its laws and traditions. In fact, it is the only hospital in the city to employ a full-time team of Sephardic patient representatives to care for and expedite the needs of community patients in the emergency room and on the wards. The team members, Isaac Sabbagh, Gabe Haber, Albert Levy, Jack Azar and Morris Rahmey, constantly go above and beyond to help every patient they encounter. They are true healthcare heroes.

“This is an exciting time to be part of Maimonides,” says Rabbi Heshy Augenbaum, the hospital’s seasoned Chief Development Officer, who works closely with community leadership and has consulted on countless projects and organizational initiatives that have benefited the Sephardic community—and Jewish communities worldwide. “The healthcare landscape is changing and we are changing with it, transforming from a ‘medical center’ into a comprehensive ‘system of care’ with multiple campuses, physician practices across Brooklyn, and a virtual care offering. Our vision is still to provide the best care available anywhere, and growth plays a key role in that.”

Maimonides just completed its affiliation with New York Community Hospital in Midwood. Its new Doctors Pavilion on Ninth Avenue and 48th Street—a project overseen by Trustee Jack A. Hidary—brings more than 130 providers and 35 specialty and primary care practices together under one roof. The construction of a separate new pediatric emergency room on the main campus will increase the existing ER by 47,000 square feet. And it continues to implement programs that keep people healthy and out of the hospital, including health outreach initiatives with strategic partners like the Brooklyn Nets and the Brooklyn Cyclones. “Although the COVID-19 pandemic is still with us and we’re not out of the woods yet, our birthday gala is a meaningful celebration of hope and promise for the future,” says Rabbi Augenbaum. “We’re 110 years young, it’s the party of the century, and what better way to mark the occasion than by appreciating Mrs. Alice Adjmi as our Woman of the Century and recognizing her among the visionary individuals securing the future of healthcare in Brooklyn for the next 110 years.”

To learn more about Maimonides’ 110th Birthday Virtual Gala, make a sponsorship gift, put an ad in the digital journal, and watch the gala broadcast, visit the event website, www.110Birthday.org.

HOUSEWIVES AND HEALTHCARE HEROES GO TO BAT FOR MAIMONDIES

This summer, Maimonides renewed its commitment to the borough of Brooklyn and to promoting the health and well-being of the community at large by naming the iconic Cyclones Stadium in Coney Island, now known as Maimonides Park. Events and festivities at the park throughout the season were focused on health education and engaging the public in the celebration of the hospital’s 110th birthday. On August 12th, cheering fans packed the stands as Maimonides’ second-annual Battle for Brooklyn celebrity softball game saw the cast of Bravo’s Real Housewives of New Jersey, led by team captain Dolores Catania, go head-to-head with the Maimonides All Stars team, led by Chair of Surgery and Director of the Breast Center, Dr. Patrick Borgen. The Housewives and Husbands, along with 77 WABC Radio’s Sid Rosenberg, and former New York Giant Tiki Barber, trounced the All Stars 10-6, but it was nevertheless a victory for Maimonides as proceeds of the charitable event benefited the Breast Center, and a sensational time was had by all. Fans and players sang a rousing chorus of Happy Birthday to Maimonides as fireworks lit up the sky. Radio legend “Brooklyn’s Own” Joe Causi emceed the fun, and Cross River Bank was the magnanimous sponsor of the game.

Baila Feuerstein is the Director of Donor Communications/Development at Maimonides Medical Center.