History of the department

The department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation in Hadassah was established during the Independence war in August 1948 as the first civilian rehabilitation center in Israel.

It was founded by Dr. Emil Adler, later known as the "father of the rehabilitation medicine in Israel" in order to treat the many casualties of the war in Jerusalem. It was located in "Mekor Hayim" building in the Habashim street.

It was the first rehabilitation center to include multi-disciplinary team including physiotherapists, occupational therapists, physiatrists, neurologists, orthopedians and nurses.

The rehabilitation center in Jerusalem maintained professional conections with Dr. Howard rask, known as the "father of modern rehabilitation" from Bellevue Medical Center in New York.

The rehabilitation center was open between August 1948 until March 1949, in this period more than 100 patients were treated as inpatients and 750 as outpatients. It was closed due to lack of financial support and political reasons.