Welcome to the Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Diseases Center at Shaare Zedek, a second home for hundreds of children with Crohn’s and Gastric Colitis from all over the country. There are tremendous treatment and diagnostic advantages in a multi-disciplinary center of excellence, in terms of the chronic disease management process and the astonishing development of treatment and diagnostic options.
At the clinic in the Shaare Zedek Medical Center, children and their families receive the gamut of treatment, accompaniment and support in a warm, personal environment and at the very highest professional level. Prof. Dan Turner – Director of the Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition Unit and a specialist in inflammatory bowel diseases – is in charge of the Center. Accessibility is the name of the game, from an understanding that a Crohn’s attack cannot wait for evaluation and treatment. A doctor is accessible 24 hours a day (by phone or mail) and there is no waiting for an appointment.
Our guiding principle at the Center is to provide accessible, multi-disciplinary treatment under one roof. Based on particular needs, our multi-disciplinary clinics operate in cooperation with specialists in Surgery (Prof. Reisman, Director of the Surgery Division), Rheumatology (Prof. Hashkes), Hematology (Dr. Miskin) and Infectious Diseases (Prof. Shlesinger). Counseling for correct nutrition is provided by the Center’s experienced Dietician (Mrs. Ronit Dadosh), including routine monitoring of growth, blood vitamin levels and correcting deficiencies. Another of the Center’s added values is the skill of the team in nutritional treatment rather than employing steroids in selected cases. A dedicated nursing team is on call to provide an array of services including intravenous drugs, immunization, localized damage treatment, routine tests and general guidance.
Our patients benefit from a partnership between the Center for Inflammatory Bowel Diseases in Children and Youth with Shaare Zedek’s Center of Complementary Medicine (directed by Dr. Menachem Oberbaum), in which patients can enjoy complementary treatment developed specially for inflammatory bowel diseases at a 50% discount, fully coordinated with the treatment team.
In addition to the day-to-day work, the Center’s doctors are involved in clinical research, aiming to discover more about how inflammatory bowel diseases evolve and to develop optimal ways for providing drug-based treatment. They sometimes test innovative treatments within the research framework, something not usually available on a regular basis.
From a deep understanding of the impact inflammatory bowel diseases have on all aspects of the patient’s (and the family’s) life, we offer a range of support activities in addition to the diagnosis, treatment and accompaniment on the clinical level. For example:
- An Educational Psychologist working individually with the children and youth as needed.
- Help with academic studies through the school next to the Pediatric Department, which helps children catch up with their studies while maintaining contact with the Education Ministry and the child’s particular school.
- Art and music therapy.
- Special workshops for children and adolescents (and parallel groups for the parents), for coping with Crohn’s and Colitis during adolescence. This has been going on – with great success – since 2008. The groups operate in conjunction with the National Agency for Crohn’s and Colitis and are moderated by experienced and expert psychologists.
To join a workshop (open to patients from all over Israel) and for further details, contact Mrs. Tamar Alteretz at 02-6666482 (09:00-13:00). Activity costs are largely subsidized by the Center.