Hadassah National Convention Opens Sunday; 2,000 Delegates Expected

A four day national convention of Hadassah will open here on Sunday, with the participation of about 2,000 delegates representing the organization’s more than 318,000 members in 1,350 chapters and groups throughout the United States and Puerto Rico.

The convention will be addressed by a number of important American and Israeli personalities. A high point at the first plenary session will be the award of a citation to Hadassah by the U.S. Committee of the World Health Organization, an agency of the United Nations. Hadassah awards will be presented to Secretary of Agriculture Orville L. Freeman and to William Benton, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

The largest individual Zionist organization in the world today, Hadassah spends more than $9,000,000 annually on its undertakings. In Israel, Hadassah conducts comprehensive health, vocational education and social welfare programs, which include diagnostic, curative and preventive medical services, rehabilitation and education of underprivileged Jewish youth, and a land redemption program.

The Hadassah Medical Organization — which conducts Hadassah’s medical program, in Israel — is based at the Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center. Located at Ein Karem, a suburb of Jerusalem, the Medical Center consolidates Hadassah’s medical facilities in a modern building complex. It includes a medical school; a 500-bed teaching hospital — servicing 17,000 inpatients annually — with service laboratories; a mother and child pavilion for maternity and infant care; an outpatient department capable of handling more than 250, 000 patient visits annually; a school of nursing and residence; and a dental school.

In the United States, Hadassah — a non-governmental organization accredited to the United Nations — conducts an intensive American affairs program through which Hadassah members are kept informed on vital community, state, national and international developments. In addition, Hadassah interprets Israel and its people to the American public, helps foster creative Jewish living through education, and supports Jewish youth groups and camps.