THE JEWISH NEWS
UP FRONT
This Week's Top Stories
Sinai Sold, Execs Leave;
New Jewish Fund Created
A New Home
PHIL JACOBS EDITOR
JILL DAVIDSON SKLAR STAFF WRITER
S
inai Hospital is sold.
The price tag remains a secret,
but sources say that it falls in the
$50-$60 million range.
In comes Sinai management team
leader William Pinsky, M.D. Dr. Pin-
sky is a senior vice president of the DMC
and associate dean of the Wayne State
University School of Medicine. He will
assume the role of regional executive,
Northwest/Sinai.
Out go the jobs of Sinai chief execu-
tive officer Philip Schaengold and at
least five others. They include Richard
Moed, chief operating officer; Gerald
Bass, chief financial officer; Gloria
Miller, head of patient care services;
James Schoeck, head of ambulatory
care; and Dr. Robert Reed, head of med-
ical affairs.
DMC is expecting to consolidate oth-
er positions in about three months. It's
not known how many hospital positions
will be lost. There is some thought that
Sinai's financial and human resource
departments as well as maintenance
and security could be combined with
nearby Grace Hospital.
"Phil Schaengold led this hospital into
profitability," said Federation executive
vice president Robert Aronson. "It was
he who worked behind the scenes to
make sure this sale took place. It isn't
every CEO who would take this kind of
constructive communal role to make it
happen.
"My hope is that we retain him in the
community. I have nothing but the high-
est respect for him."
Many of the parting executives were
offered positions with DMC. At least one
of the execs, Mr. Moed, has already se-
cured another position out of town as
chief operating officer of Boston Med-
ical Center. He'll take that position in
March.
"I was offered a position [at DMC],
but it wasn't a position I wanted to do,"
said Mr. Moed. "[DMC] is a bigger cor-
poration, and I was offered a narrower
group of experiences."
Mr. Moed was in Detroit for less than
two years.
"I came here thinking this is where
I'd raise my family. But in these days of
acquisitions and mergers, you don't need
as many execs. It comes with the ter-
ritory," he said.
Mr. Bass, the CFO, said he isn't sure
what he's going to be doing at this point.
He's worked with Sinai for about three
years. Like Mr. Moed, he said the cli-
mate of the times makes the transac-
tion between Sinai and the DMC pretty
conventional.
"Every hospital is usually talking to
every other hospital in the city or even
in other cities," said Mr. Bass. "It's fair- proceeds. Only the interest income will
ly common."
be used to help create a safety net of
Richard Roth, chairman of the Sinai sorts for the Jewish community. None
Health Care Foundation, said that the of the money will be used for Israel or
change in leadership was expected. "It for education.
was well-discussed beforehand who may
The funds are not intended to replace
want to stay and who may not," said Mr. monies raised by the Allied Jewish
Roth. "There were negotiations between Campaign.
a lot of the people. Some decided not to
"Welfare reform measures are going
accept what was offered to them. I knew to get worse," said Mr. Aronson. "We'll
that none [of the top executives] was deploy monies for people who are in our
staying, and I knew that for a while. It most vulnerable population. We'll use
wasn't unexpected."
this money for job training, for immi-
What is expected is that DMC will grants who are having difficulty pass-
continue to offer Jew-
ish services. Represen
tatives from DMC and
Sinai will develop plans
for integration of
Sinai's medical staff
into the DMC staff,
preservation and inte-
gration of Jewish tra-
ditions and religious
practices and coordi-
nation of medical edu-
cation and residency
programs.
Sinai's name will
continue at the current
location and will be
added at DMC Huron
Valley, which is locat-
ed in Commerce Town-
ship.
DMC leadership will
be taking information-
al tours through Feder-
ation agencies such as
Jewish Family Service,
the Jewish Community
Center, Federation
Apartments and others.
"We've given a lot of
thought to the services
we want to see given to
the Jewish communi-
ty," said Jewish Feder-
ation's Mr. Aronson. Phil Schaengold: Worked behind the scenes.
"We want free health
care to continue to be
given to Russian immigrants. We want ing citizenship tests and for many other
to continue to provide counseling ser- needs."
vices for Holocaust survivors and their
The Federation will be the program
children, medical testing for residents officer for the fund, making recommen-
of Federation Apartments and even the dations on how monies should be used.
continuation of the Sinai connection
The fund's board will consist of 22 in-
bringing residents from Federation dividuals: 13 from the Sinai board, five
Apartments to their doctors.
from the Sinai Health Care Foundation
"Sinai has been involved in the fab- and four representing the Jewish Fed-
ric of our community, and we don't want eration and United Jewish Foundation.
that ever to change."
"I think this represents a win-win for
Federation will also help in the ad- the Jewish community," said Mr. Aron-
ministration of a newly conceived Jew- son. "We continue to maintain Jewish
ish Fund For Social Service. This services and the traditions of Sinai and
foundation will be set up with approx- expand those services for the use of gen-
imately $50 million from the affiliation erations to come." ❑
-
Congregation B'nai Moshe completes
construction on a school wing.
A
fter years of meeting in the social hall,
trying to learn as caterers set up for bar
mitzvah parties and weddings, the stu-
dents of Congregation B'nai Moshe will
soon have actual classrooms to use.
"It is a dream come true," said Rabbi Elliot
Pachter. "Our building opened five years ago,
and we have been thinking and dreaming about
this ever since."
The $450,000, 4,500-square-foot addition to
the building on Drake Road includes 10 class-
rooms and bathroom facilities. Ground for the
addition was broken on June 25 and construc-
.
Workers put the finishing touches on B'nai Moshe's new
classroom wing.
tion is nearly complete.
Although only the cabinets have yet to be in-
stalled, the congregation is waiting for a cer-
tificate of occupancy from West Bloomfield
Township to use the space.
The school building will also provide space
for the congregation's formal preschool enrich-
ment program. A trial program has met in the
shul since April and more formal classes for 3-
and 4-year-olds will begin in the fall:
One classroom will convert to a small chapel
and will also be used as a library. Complete with
an ark and reader's table, the room will be used
for daily minyan, school assemblies as well as
other smaller programs.
The congregation debated building the wing
at the same time as the shul was being built.
They opted to build a larger sanctuary and so-
cial hall and put off construction of the class-
room wing, Rabbi Pachter said.
'We needed a larger sanctuary for occasion-
al large crowds and we needed a substantial so-
cial hall for large weddings, simchas and
parties," he said. "So we invested in nice, work-
able room dividers to separate the social hall
into classrooms."
But as the student body grew from 30 in 1992
to its current level of 102, the need for class-
rooms became apparent.
'We managed to work out the kinks, but we
knew all along that we would need classrooms,"
Rabbi Pachter said.
The congregation plans an open house April
13 to showcase the new facility.
❑