Home > About
Vision In Action
Irving and Helen Schneider had a dream: to build a comprehensive children’s hospital that would serve as a beacon of hope and a bridge to peace for children and their families of all ethnicities from Israel, neighboring countries and beyond.
Since 1991, the Schneider family and other committed donors have contributed over $140 million to support the construction, programs and services at American Friends of Schneider Children’s Medical Center of Israel, the first and only freestanding children’s hospital in Israel and the largest of its kind in the region.
Today, the Children’s Health Alliance of Israel continues to invest in capital improvements for new buildings, equipment and research at the Medical Center to improve children’s lives.
“My family and I are thrilled to build upon my parents’ vision of ensuring state-of-the-art pediatric health care for the children of Israel and beyond.”
– Mindy Schneider, Daughter of Irving & Helen Schneider
Schneider Children’s carries the name of its visionary founders and major benefactors, the late Irving and Helen Schneider. The Schneider’s, for whom the hospital became a cornerstone of the family’s legacy, felt strongly that the hospital facilities and medical expertise be for, and about children. This pertains to all children of the region – regardless of faith, race and socio-economic background.
Since its establishment in 1991, Schneider Children’s has revolutionized the practice of pediatric medicine in the country and has been recognized as one of the leading pediatric institutions in the world. It is the only comprehensive, tertiary care hospital of its kind in the country and in the Middle East, offering the full range of pediatric disciplines under one roof, to all children. The design, philosophy and medical expertise of the hospital are all based on the premise that children are children, not small adults. Schneider Children’s “whole-child-care”, multidisciplinary approach integrates medical care with emotional, psychological, educational and developmental care, to ensure children return to their homes and communities healthy and strong in all realms.
From the beginning, the Schneider’s envisioned the hospital serving as a Bridge to Peace, a welcome beacon of hope in a country that has known decades of turmoil. Today, 25 years later, this philosophy has permeated into all aspects of the hospital’s work. All children seeking treatment are admitted, and comprehensive treatment protocols address the diverse cultural, medical and emotional needs of each population in Israeli society.
Inscribed in the hospital’s Cornerstone Scroll, signed in 1988 and buried beneath the building’s foundations, is that “this hospital – dedicated to the fundamental rights of each child to live a healthy life in a peaceful world – will serve as a bridge to peace linking this nation to its neighbors.