bought an aging hospital and offices,"
he said.
Campbell also 4sputes that Sinai
has become assimilated into the DMC
corporate culture. He pointed out that
medical staff leadership at both Grace
and Sinai comprises a majority of
Jews.
"When Sinai joined the system,
what we got as part of a system is yet
something else that makes us unique
and different in this community," he
said.
"There is nothing that has been
changed relative to taking away the
Jewishness of Sinai Hospital. We've
tried to highlight, reinforce and
expand on what the Jewish communi-
ty expects."
DMC has upheld its commitment
— part of it spelled out in the pur-
chase agreement with Sinai — to carry
on the hospital's Jewish traditions.
DMC-Sinai's kosher kitchen is still
functioning, although it serves only 15
to 20 meals daily, and the hospital
employs three full-time rabbis. Beyond
the agreement, DMC has become a
good corporate citizen, sponsoring
everything from the recent JCC
Maccabi Games to lectures aimed at
New Americans and subsidizing the
medical care of Russian immigrants.
There are holdovers from Sinai's
past that still play an active role at the
hospital. The Sinai Guild, which raises
funds and provides volunteers from
the hospital, continues to sponsor art
shows by Akiva and Hillel students for
exhibit in the hospital, teams up with
DMC to provide education for New
Americans and holds its annual
Heritage Ball. Proceeds from this
year's ball, on October 19, will go
toward education about and treatment
of prostate cancer.
Said Guild President Rose Rita
Goldman, "Our mission is to contin-
ue to keep up our hospital's Jewish
heritage and tradition since we are
part of the Detroit Medical Center
now."
The Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit still provides a
yearly allocation of over $100,000 for
the medical care of New Americans
and indigent Jews at Sinai.
And the Jewish Fund, which was
created with the proceeds from the
sale of the hospital, has provided some
$4 million in grants to organizations,
including DMC-Sinai, that serve the
needs of the sick and elderly Jewish
and non-Jewish populations of metro-
politan Detroit — another part of
Sinai's purchase agreement with
DMC.

.

"My sense is that the decision [to
sell Sinai] has enhanced the opportu-
nity for this facility to continue to
serve the Jewish community for
decades to come," said Mark
Schlussel, the former chairman of
Sinai's board of trustees and the cur-
rent vice-chairman of the DMC board
of directors.
"I understand the physicians' sense
that what they had in the past and the
comfort zone they were in was legiti-
mately appropriate for them to feel
uncomfortable about what tran-
spired," he continued. "But based on
economics, the outcome of not having
this relationship worked out with
DMC would've been far more
destructive and far less advantageous
to the Jewish community."
Schlussel added that DMC-Sinai
doctors are still predominantly
Jewish and that "many of the physi-
cians leaving Sinai and attacking the
fact that it's no longer a Jewish hos-
pital are doing that because they are
receiving bonuses and substantial
increases from other health care com-
petitors."
David K. Page, the former presi-
dent of the Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit and a member
of the DMC board of directors and its
executive committee, echoed
Schlussel: "The contracts they've
entered into have, by and large,
increased compensation for doctors."
Page added that the DMC is
"spending millions" to upgrade Sinai's
office facilities,. along with another
$165 million to merge Grace and
Sinai.
"The Jewish community signifi-
cantly benefited from the sale. Sinai
either would've been closed or sold to
another institution that would not
have come close to preserving the rela-
tionships with the Jewish community
that the DMC has," he said. "I just
think it's sort of sour grapes and revi-
sionist history that people are saying it
isn't what it was."
But Dr. Jay Levinson, a Sinai staff
doctor for 14 years who serves as chief
of gastroenterology for DMC's
Northwest Region, said Sinai clearly is
not, and will never be, what it was.
"With the advent of the merger of
Grace and Sinai, it will change dra-
matically to the point of not being a
Jewish institution. For those of us who
practice here who like that environ-
ment, it's a shame, but it's a fact of
life. There's a certain sadness and a
certain sense of loss among those who
have worked here," he said. ID

04#
z4.- 4
. 4, e!

-

'14,/ • -g;

n

""'

'C'
' "z;ki s

•

Above: Dr. Gilbert Herman_
joined the staff of
Bot.ord Hospital
in December.
Changes at Sinai
left him with
"nothing to do,"

Right: Dr. Arthur Efi-os
left Sinai for
Providence in May.
He said DMC
has shown a
"disregard"fOr physicians
in contract
negotiations.

"It wasn't Sinai Hospital any
more. It was just a job

.

9/11

1998

Detroit Jewish News in