N

1901

1912

Movement
initiated to build
a Jewish hospital

Orthodox rabbis
march on
Hastings Street
with 'Buy a Brick
to Save the
Sick'

North End Clinic
opens its doors to
all Detroiters
during Depression,
circa 1922

H

1922

North End
Clinic opens

1938

Federation-
sponsored survey
shows need for
Jewish hospital

P

T A 1

1944 1951 1953

Jewish
Hospital
Association-
formed by
Federation
raises
$2,300,000

Ground
broken
for
hospital

January 15-
first patient
admitted to
Sinai
Hospital

Construction
begins for
Sinai
Hospital in
1951.

First medical staff at
Sinai Hospital, 1953

Goodbye Sinai; Hello. Sinai-Gracel

JULIE WIENER
Staff Writer

F

or 46 years, Detroit's Sinai
Hospital was a workplace
for Jewish doctors, a shelter
- for the Jewish sick and a
symbol of a community commitment
to professional achievement and
humane care. It will close by
September.
The eight-story brick building .on
West Outer Drive in Detroit fell vic-
tim to changing social needs as most
of the Jewish families moved away
from the city and opted for more
convenient suburban hospitals. Those
facilities counted Jewish doctors on
their staffs even if they lacked the
Star of David logo or the kosher
kitchen.
In response to an outside consult-
ing group's detailed cost-benefit
analysis, the Detroit Medical Center
board of directors voted Feb. 25 to
move Sinai's services to neighboring
Grace Hospital, the former Mt.
Carmel Catholic hospital that was
built in 1938. At a million square
feet, it is slightly bigger than Sinai.
Officials from DMC, which bought
Sinai in 1997, and the Jewish

Federation of Metropolitan
=
Detroit said the decision will
not affect the health care net-
work's commitment to the
at4:
s§
Jewish community, including k •
its various partnerships with
Most Jewish patients and many doctors
and services for Jewish agen-
voted with their feet to leave Sinai. The
cies (see related story).
DMC officials said Grace
promises of community service remain.
will get a $25 million
upgrade and be renamed
The Jewish Fund is administered
Sinai-Grace. Improvements will
from the Max M. Fisher Federation
include a kosher kitchen and a chapel
Building in Bloomfield Township.
space appropriate for Jewish worship-
Both Sinai and Grace are located
pers (Grace's current chapel promi-
on West Outer Drive, two miles
nently displays a large crucifix and
south of the Oakland County border,
other Christian symbols.)
between the Southfield and Lodge
The facility will offer the same
Jewish pastoral care that has been
available at Sinai; displays about
Sinai's history, along with plaques
honoring its predominantly Jewish
donors, will be moved to Sinai-Grace.
"The building itself might not be
there but the connection will contin-
ue," said Jewish Federation President
Penny Blumenstein. She said The
Jewish Fund, an endowment created
from the sale of Sinai to the DMC,
enables the Jewish community to
fund a range of social service projects
David Coats
for Jews and the community at large.

freeways. Once in the midst of the
Jewish community, the neighborhood
has changed over the years but still
boasts solid homes.
Although the business district
around Sinai has declined, the neigh- -\
borhood's residential streets — lined
with pre-World War II red-brick
homes — remain middle class for the
most part.
DMC officials emphasized that
while Sinai's physical building will
close, the change is more a move
than a closing.
"Sinai won't be closing, because its -\
history and services will move to
Grace," said DMC President and
Chief Executive Officer David Coats
at a Feb. 25_press conference.
Dr. Bernard Gonik, DMC's chief
of obstetrics-gynecology for the
northwest region, said the hospital is
not closing, it's moving."
"A woman just asked me, 'Where
am I supposed to go for my care
now?' and I said, 'Well, you'll still go
to Sinai Hospital, just three blocks
down the road," said Gonik, who is
Jewish and has offices in both the
Grace and Sinai buildings.
Sinai physicians, many of whom
are Jewish, will continue their con-

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LO Detroit Jewish News

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