The Real Transformers

Information about the Bethesda Children’s Hospital
of the Hungarian Reformed Church in 2008

The Bethesda Hospital is one of the oldest children’s hospital in Budapest and the only Christian children’s hospital in Middle and Eastern Europe. German Filia of the Reformed Church founded the institution 142 years ago and the Philadelphia Deaconess Mother House ran it for decades until 1938.

The Bethesda Hospital was nationalised, like other church institutes and had used in for forty years by the state. In 1992 it was transferred back to the property of the Reformed Church of Hungary.

That time the Hospital was in a very poor state, general renovation was necessary and the works have been carried out since then.

The healing community of the hospital intends to emphasise spirituality, professional skills as well as the importance of modern technical facilities.

The hospital admits children patients (0-18 years) from the capital, but also from all over Hungary. The hospital takes care of socially disadvantaged and physically handicapped children and their families at the same time.

We can provide all sorts of medical care within the field of paediatrics. Neurology, pulmonology and allergology are areas that have particular importance, because they deal with illnesses most frequent occurring in our times.

One of the main profiles of the Neurology Department is the treatment of epilepsy. We succeeded in setting up the Middle-Eastern European Presurgical Epilepsy Centre, which provides a wild-ranging check-up before operation. The other profile of the neurology is the treatment of neuro-muscular diseases. This life-long disease needs very special care and high-tech equipment for an early diagnosis.

Since 2002, the range of activities at the hospital has been enlarges with a new department. This is the national Centre of Burn Injured Children. The hospital was requested by the Ministry of Health to undertake the forming of a new department with their support. The care of burnt children is very complex, and needs close co-operation and team work with all the co-professions. The centre offers centralised care of the seriously burn children, and permanent patients’ admissions in cases: more than 5% extended burn in infancy, more than 20% extended burn in age below 4 years, more than 40% extended burn in age below 18 years and care according to necessity. Since the construction of the department we have got close relationship with the Rode Kruis Ziekenhuis Beverwijk Burn Centre, which is one of the three centres in the Netherlands.

According the latest health care reform our hospital has got ore beds for creating rehabilitation and psychosomatic care for children. These new profiles are new challenges for the staff. On the rehabilitation ward we treat children after serious burn injury, after car accident, children in coma, motion rehabilitation. The psychosomatic ward can provide care for children in dysthymia, behaviour disorder, generalised anxiety, learning difficulties.

The department of Paediatric Surgery provides comprehensive service in general paediatric surgery and traumatology, complete with paediatric urology and orthopaedic surgery. We have special emphasis on minimal invasive surgery (laparoscopy). Specific expertise is available for orthopaedic and gastrointestinal surgery of neurologic damaged children. We would like to ensure possibility of accommodation for parents as well together with their sick children.

Education and professionalism in the hospital.
Our hospital takes part in the national health and social education programme. We have contacts with different medical universities, colleges and health schools to receive their students and give them the chance to spend their practical period here. Our doctors, nurses and other specialists teach in different educational institutions.

Our colleagues frequently take part in training courses, conferences as participants as well as speakers all over Hungary and abroad. We sometimes organising international and national conferences in different field of paediatrics. Yearly, we organise forums for senior and junior doctors and nurses, who also publish in different medical periodical.

The spirituality of the hospital
The hospital management has a strong philosophy that they physical and mental wellbeing of the staff plays very important roles in a quality of the work and quality of the treatment. We organise different meetings, forums and events for the staff.

The hospital has pastors, teachers, kathechet, mental hygienic team who take care of the patients and also of the staff. Due to demands they visit the children, give lecture them and support the family, if they need it. At the same time they assist the staff to avoid the burn out syndrome.

The diaconal committee of the hospital permanently helps those in need of the colleagues as well as the patients.

International contacts of the hospital
According to the history of the hospital we had strong contacts in abroad, which was broken of, as well as the other contacts after the nationalisation. Among the activities, one of the firsts was to rebuild all the international relations. We could set up again good contacts with the German, Dutch, Swiss, Scottish Reformed Churches, hospitals and institutions. Regularly we have visitors from the America and Irish Churches and civil organisations. The have had a budding professional collaboration in Great Britain too.

Our colleagues travel frequently to the Netherlands, Germany and to Great Britain for study visits. We need all these relations to upgrade our knowledge and provide European standard care.

The financial resources of our hospital are very complex.
We get expenditure subsidies from the State Health Insurance Company after medical attendance. That income covers the daily running costs of the hospital.

For the reconstruction of the buildings and development of the medical equipment we have been given some governmental subsidy and we have been applying for different grants. The Hungarian Reformed Church, as the legal owner of the hospital also subsidies our reconstruction and our operation costs.

The help we get from foundations and sponsors is indispensable in order to be able to fulfil the professional, spiritual and diaconal expectations.

These are some data concerning the hospital:

Main profiles of the hospital:

• General Paediatric care
• Paediatric Surgery
• Paediatric Ear-nose-throat care
• Paediatric Pulmonology
• Paediatric Intensive care
• Paediatric Neurology
• Paediatric Rehabilitation and Psychosomatic care
• National Centre of Burn Injured Children

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