As I was reviewing Eddie Hirshbein's photo collection, I came across an envelope which read, "A day in the life of a nurse – Hadassah, Jerusalem." In the envelope I found many negatives in good quality, but without the names of the people and places.
I was reminded of Edna Guggenheimer, the daughter of photographers Hannah and Efraim Degani
of the Prisma photography store in Jeruslaem. Hannah and Efraim worked as medical photograpers in the beginning of their career, and Edna is a graduate of the Hadassah School of Nursing in Jerusalem.
Today she engages in computerized cataloging at the Hadassah Medical Organization's photo archive. Edna got to know the Hadassah facilities in Jerusalem after the War of Independence, when they were scattered across the city before being brought together at the Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital.
I turned to Edna, and she willingly agreed to help. So here are a number of Eddie Hirshbein's photos with Edna Guggenheimer's captions.
1. Nitza Refaeli, a student at the Hadassah Hospital's School of Nursing in Jerusalem. Nitza's story is the story of the hospital, which was evacuated from Mount Scopus in 1948, at the start of the War of Independence, and temporarily resided in different buildings on Neviim Street and its surroundings until the 1960s, when the Ein Kerem medical center was inagurated
2. Hadassah A., Gynecological and Maternity Ward, which was located in the English Mission Hospital on Neviim Street – today's Anglican School
3. Next to the incubator with nurse Rovelsky
4. Anatomy class at the nursing school in St Joseph's Abbey on Neviim Street, which served as a boarding house for the school's students
5. Head nurse Shoshana Sternberg examining the operating room outfit
6. The Surgical Ward and operating rooms were located in the German hospital, which was called Ziv Hospital, on Neviim Street. When the Ein Kerem medical center opened, the building became part of the Bikur Holim Hospital
7. Time-out with a friend on Neviim Street, where the hospitalization units were located in different buildings
8. The Internal Ward was located at Hadassah D. The building, next to Davidka Square, was destroyed in the 1960s and replaced with a hotel (which has also been destroyed in the meantime)
9. Nitza at an outpatient clinic. The outpatient clinics were located on Hasolel Street, today's Havatzelet Street
10. All in the family: Nitza with her mother, Mrs. Smokler, who was a midwife and supervisor at the hospital
11-12. One of the most important healthcare enterprises established by Hadassah was building infrastructure for preventive medicine. In the photos: Nitza makes a medical visit
12.
13. In the 1950s, Hadassah handed the infant welfare centers, social services and nursing schools across the country to the municipalities and Health Ministry. Only in Jerusalem, Hadassah remained in charge until 1963. In the photo: The infant welfare center in Kiryat Hayovel, Jerusalem
14. The family and community center in Kiryat Hayovel, Jerusalem
15. Mrs. Druckman, a public health nurse, was in charge of medical and social services in Kiryat Hayovel
16. Singsong night at the nurses' dorms
I would like to thank Edna Guggenheimer for her contribution to this story
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