Natalie Portman is a mensch!
The Jerusalem hospital inundated over the past four years with Israeli victims of Palestinian bombings dedicated a new emergency care unit on Thursday, just as violence appeared to be winding down.
Doctors and nurses at Hadassah Hospital can now treat three times as many victims at a time with the new, US$50 million unit in operation.
Dr. Avi Rivkind, head of the hospital's trauma and surgery department regretted that although mortality rates have improved, not everyone can be saved.
"It's still mortality. Beyond these numbers are families, children, so many lives impacted," he said. "It's not enough."
The hospital is sponsored by the Hadassah Women's Zionist Organization of America, and a 700-member mission from the group is in Israel for the dedication.
At a gala cermony Thursday evening at the Jerusalem Theater, actress Natalie Portman, who was born at Hadassah Hospital, presented an award to Rivkind.
Portman, who won a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Oscar this year, told Rivkind, "A soldier who was brought critically injured to Hadassah looked up from the stretcher, saw you standing there, recognized you from TV and said simply, 'I fell into good hands.' That's how all of us feel."
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