Further plans
“Many of my friends think it is exclusive, expensive, ultra private,” says the economist Mohammad Fheili, an assistant general manager of Jammal Trust Bank in Beirut and a lecturer at the Lebanese American University. “It is not as expensive as one would think. The services and insurance exist as it would at any other hospital.”
Rasha Atwi ended up at Clemenceau after she fainted at work. She had heard about the big new hospital when it opened, but continued to go to the older hospital she had always used.
The 44-year-old had suffered from seizures for years but was told it was related to stress or sinus problems. After her latest spell, an ambulance brought her to Clemenceau.
She was given her first MRI. Results showed two benign tumors. Atwi was diagnosed with tumor-induced epilepsy.
“Because of the war, and I work and have kids, I just think it’s the stress of life,” Atwi says. “I figured it wasn’t a real problem. Especially since no doctor ever mentioned the possibility of me having epilepsy.”
Doctors removed the tumors. While Atwi suffers from side effects, such as headaches and concentration problems, she is glad she ended up at Clemenceau that day.
“I am not energetic, but I am living,” Atwi says. “If those two tumors had remained in my head, I would have a lot more problems and it would be more difficult than it is now.”
Fheili, the banker, says Clemenceau has had an impact beyond its campus: Other hospitals now are upgrading their facilities, expanding services and working to improve customer relations. to Lebanon. They sought Hopkins’ advice when opening a $50 million cancer center.
Last year, for the first time, Hopkins residents completed part of their training at the hospital. Clemenceau physicians routinely seek second opinions from their Hopkins colleagues. A neurosurgeon traveled to the hospital in June to help another surgeon operate on a patient. “It felt just like I was in a Hopkins operating room,” says Dr. Ali Bydon, a Johns Hopkins neurosurgeon of Lebanese descent.
Every three months, staff in charge of quality control at Clemenceau hold a video conference with Hopkins. The hospital regularly reports infection rates to Baltimore. “Whenever we want to, we can pick up the phone or send an email,” says Dr. Rola Hammoud, Clemenceau’s chief of quality. “They are very helpful.”
Lebanese nurses and doctors who tried to encourage mothers to breastfeed faced resistance. The mothers worried about what their breasts would look like after breastfeeding and if they would still be attractive to their husbands. They wanted to rest in the hospital before they went home, not spend the time feeding the baby.
“They want to relax. They don’t want to hear the baby,” Hammoud says. “They want to have life easy before they go home and face reality. It is very difficult to convince them.”
The Lebanese medical team worked with Hopkins to come up with educational materials and videos to explain the benefits of breastfeeding and hopefully boost the numbers of moms who do it.
Hopkins and Clemenceau agreed this year to extend their partnership 10 more years.
Kalaawi is using what he has learned from Hopkins to open up facilities in other countries. Clemenceau recently started its own international division, which plans to launch hospitals in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
Paulk says Hopkins will continue to look carefully for new international opportunities — the institution doesn’t want to stretch itself too thin. She says emerging markets, or areas that are expanding and maturing, such as Latin America or Southeast Asia, are most promising.
“We will become as big as we need to be, but not so big that we outstrip our ability to do a good job,” Paulk says.