Business calls. Make sure you have Erosion At Sinai the right answer. JULIE WIENER Staff Writer F The demands of business have never been greater. Shorter turnaround times. Tighter budgets. Enter Nextel. The only all-digital national network combining cellular, text messaging and Nextel Direct Connect,sm our built-in two-way radio feature. Direct Connect is a fast, easy and cost-effective way to communicate with your co-workers anywhere in your Nextel coverage area. Better yet, it's now available in our high-quality Motorola' phones for as little as S99. Making the question not whether to buy Nextel phones, but how many. To find out how Nextel can help your business get the right answer, call 1-800-NEXTEL9. www.nextel.com 1-800-N EXTEL9 Nextel phones are manufactured by Sign up with Nextel and double your digital 8 Available at MOTOROLA WI TRH' CE:LULAP 5 WIFELESS cellular minutes until December 31, 1999. fi at. Call now and get twice the airtime at the same cost. Office DEPOT Promo: NXGL99-004-003 Activation fees and rate plan restrictions may apply. Promotional phone prices valid through 2/28/99. ©1999 Nextel Communications, Inc. All rights reserved. Nextel, the Nextel logo, Nextel Business Networks, and Nextel Direct Connect are trademarks and/or service marks of Nextel Communications, Inc. ®Motorola, iDEN, i390, i600, and i1000 are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Motorola, Inc. 4 SEASONS FIREPLACE & BARBECUE Pre-Season Barbecue Sale Special Prices: Broilmaster, Weber, Broil King, etc. (248) 855-0303 30903 Orchard Lake Rd. in Hunter S quare 1/22 1999 between 13 & 14 Mile by THE GAP & TJ MARX CLOSED SATURDAY Open Sunday 10 am-5 pm Monday to Thursday 10 am-9 pm, Frida y 10 am-4 pm 12 Detroit Jewish News acing approximately $100 million in losses for 1998, the Detroit Medical Center is cutting jobs and pro- grams throughout the region and is -\ expected to close either a historically Jewish hospital or its northwest Detroit neighbor in the coming year. Sinai Hospital, founded in 1953 as a haven for Jewish doctors facing employment discrimination elsewhere, was sold to the DMC in 1997 for $65 million. The proceeds formed The Jewish Fund, an endowment adminis- tered by the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit that provides grants for health and human services programs within the Jewish communi- ty and the Detroit community at large. Six months after purchasing Sinai, the DMC announced it would merge it with neighboring Grace Hospital, bring- ing the two facilities under Sinai's roof. At that time, the merger was to entail costly renovations. Now, it appears that the hospitals will still merge, but services will be scaled down and it is unclear which building will be closed. David Page, a DMC board member and former Federation president, insists that whatever the changes, Sinai will remain a Jewish hospital and that both the Sinai and Grace missions will be retained. Page said that the DMC has "bent over backwards" to relate to the Jewish community since purchasing Sinai and that Jews should continue to have an interest in the northwest Detroit hos- pital and its suburban branches. "The DMC has expanded the kosher food offerings and rabbinic chaplaincy pro- gram at Sinai and service programs to Jewish agencies have expanded." Despite DMC efforts, the number of Jewish doctors and patients at Sinai is decreasing, and — with the Grace merger — will likely fall further. Since its purchase by the DMC, many of the Jewish physicians who have left Sinai have gone to other ,__/ health care networks. The number of ,__\ Jewish patients — currently five per- cent of the hospital's patients — also has decreased. A 1998 Simmons-Jewish News survey of randomly sampled Jewish News subscribers found that half who had used a health care facility in the past year opted for Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, while only 25.9 percent had used Sinai. 1-1