But, little by little, the situation im- million profit, its first in about six years.
he Jewish community
That was followed by $13 million in
gave birth to Sinai in proved.
1993; $3.5 million in 1994; and $9.1 mil-
Mark
Schlussel,
current
chair
of
the
1953, when physicians
with names like Klein, Sinai board, credits the hard work of lion last year.
The numbers, though impressive,
Schwartz and Blum such hospital officers as Merle Harris only stand as indications of other steps
and Dr. Hugh Beckman, who worked
couldn't join staffs of extensively with physicians and staff toward recovery. In an effort to reach
most other medical in- to boost morale.
out to the diaspora of Jews in the sub-
stitutions.
Under the leadership of Dr. Sander urbs, Sinai continued to establish satel-
Thirty-five years later, their Jewish Kushner, the hospital took on a de- lite offices. There are now more than
creation was suffering from more than partment of family practice, considered 30. A transportation service, the Con-
a premature mid-life crisis. Not only vital for establishing a stronger refer- nector, helps patients get from satel-
had Sinai's patients moved to places ral base.
lite office to satellite office, or to
like Birmingham and West Bloomfield.
And, in a pivotal move, Sinai hired appointments at the hospital's main
So had its doctors.
Phillip Schaengold as president and campus.
Discrimination waned, a blessing CEO. Straight from Menorah Hospital
Most recently, a new Women's
and a curse. Nonsectarian, even Chris- in Kansas City, Mr. Schaengold came Health Center opened in Farmington
tian institutions drew Jewish physi- equipped with degrees in pharmacy, Hills on the corner of Maple and Farm-
cians away from their initial safe haven law and business administration. His ington roads. And, if all goes smooth-
on Detroit's West Outer Drive.
Jewish heritage and, more important- ly, Sinai will take advantage of
A changing demographic wasn't the ly, his bottom-line, dollars-and-cents state-government permission to build
only reason Sinai began to falter. Some philosophy, seemed to be the antidote. a large ambulatory facility in Novi,
physicians and board members blamed
In 1992, the hospital reported an $8.5 which would serve as its suburban hub.
faulty management. Others said the
administration wasn't attuned
Opposite page: Children with a Jewish Community Center program cheer up a Sinai patient on Purim.
to the latest trends in hospi-
Below: Sinai's department of volunteer services enables the Jewish community to participate in the running of the
tal/doctor relations.
hospital. Here, Lil Gorov tends to a patient.
Officials acknowledged that,
although health care was ex-
cellent, financial matters
ranked a notch below Jewish
communal issues, which led to
an excessively large and ineffi-
cient board of directors.
Sinai's annual report in 1988
tried to brighten an otherwise
gloomy prognosis. Trumpeting
a new satellite office in Farm-
ington Hills, then President
Irving Shapiro nevertheless ad-
mitted that troubles ran deep.
"Many people with whom
I've worked have left the insti-
tution. Faces keep changing,"
Mr.Shapiro said. "Attitudes
have changed, too. We see ten-
sion, suspicion and unease
among many who remain. In
the coming year, I will do every-
thing I can to recapture the
family feeling and team spirit
that were always so important
to us."
Mr. Shapiro did not wait
around for Sinai's rebirth. He
stepped down from his post
that year, and the hospital
board replaced him with Robert
Steinberg, who served until
1991 as interim president.
Those, too, were rocky times.
The hospital reported monthly
losses of up to $750,000. A
hospital consulting firm, the
Hunter Group, concluded
that Sinai needed to follow a
strict Rx involving major cut-
backs.
Its volunteer board was
sliced to 14 officers. Dozens of
now-ex-board members joined
the Sinai Health Care Foun-
dation, which took form as a
separate, fund-raising entity.
Sparing few departments,
Sinai laid off hundreds of
employees. Others left for more
stable positions at nearby hos-
pitals. Albeit short-lived, plans
surfaced for a merger with the
Detroit Medical Center. There
was talk of relocating to the
suburbs.

in

The hospital awaits city approval of its
site plan.
As for occasional rumors of reloca-
tion, President Schaengold says they
are untrue. A move would require a cer-
tificate of need from Lansing and $250
million.
"That's just not realistic," he says.
These days, the big money goes to-
ward expanding the Outer Drive cam-
pus in Detroit. The site discharged
21,400 patients in 1995. Administra-
tors and.board members say about 50
percent were from the suburbs.
- The numbers, they think, merit an
expansion of the inner-city facility. Last
month, Sinai announced the sale of a
$75 million bond issue to remodel its
over-utilized emergency room and re-
vamp labor, delivery and recovery
units, as well as ambulatory and nurs-
ing care. Renovations are scheduled for
completion by the year 2000.
The bond sale, which was fully
accomplished in a matter of hours,
is considered testimony to market
confidence in Sinai.
Also fueling the institution's
progress into the 21st century is a
widening patient base resulting
from links to managed care com-
panies, including Health Alliance
Plan, Blue Cross, Wellness Plan,
OmniCare and M-Care.
Some thank a healthy rapport
between physicians and hospital
administrators for these new af-
filiations. Doctors like Harvey Sab-
bota can vouch for good relations.
"I know that if I went into Phil
Schaengold's office today, he would
not say, 'Who are you? Step out-
side my office and make an ap-
pointment with my secretary.'
"If Phil weren't busy, he'd talk
with me on the spot. That would
never happen at the DMC (Detroit
Medical Center), believe me."
Physicians like Dr. Sabbota left
the staff of DMC to join Sinai two
years ago. In the 1980s, he was
among several Jewish physicians
with the Woodland Clinic (now
called DMC Health Care Centers).
Many Woodland doctors first
trained at Sinai and later referred
patients there. _
But, in 1986, the DMC pur-
chased Woodland, thus shifting
the doctors' allegiances away from
Sinai to places like Huron Valley,
Grace, Harper and other DMC-
member institutions. Dr. Sabbota
says Woodland's initial hope was
that Sinai would take over.
"But at that time, Sinai did not
think the wave of the future was
to have doctors working for them,"
he says.
The lack of foresight backfired
as hospitals began buying out pri-
vate practices, mainly to assure a
steady clientele. Dr. Gerald Man-
dell, attending pathologist at Sinai,
blames that mistake for problems
the hospital encountered between
1986 and 1991. He says Sinai's loss
of Woodland caused a 9 percent
dwindling of its patient base.
"That immediately impacted the
profitability of the hospital," he says.

REBIRTH page 38

