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Shared Memories of Sinai Hospital

I gave birth to my 2 boys here in 1990&1993 such wonderful memories.

Julie Brown Bester

Hello, I was an ccu/ icu RN at Sinai Hospital of Detroit. I loved that hospital, my job, and all the great people I worked with. I am a nurse in California now but it’s never the same.

 Connie Galmes

It's strange to see Sinai empty and abandoned. It must cost a heller amount for them to keep it at a minimally functional level. I figured someone would have reopened it by now...

I was born at Sinai in 1962, and had 3 major surgeries there, most recently in 1998. My understanding was that DMC (Detroit Medical Centers), which owned both Sinai and Grace hospitals, hit major financial trouble during this time. Many DMC centers were closed in the 1990's, including a large DMC center on Van Dyke in Sterling Heights, as well as many smaller buildings. Sinai was unfortunately chosen because it was the older of the two hospitals (Grace being the other).

I hope someday another group, better managed and financed than DMC, will come along and reopen Sinai. It seems a huge waste, all that property, those buildings, and no one using them.

By the way, some of the buildings on-site are still used, like the Hechtman Center.

Jen

My son was born there only 6 yrs ago. Such a shame for the building to go to waste when so many people need medical care and a place to live.

Rebecca

I grew up two blocks from Sinai Hospital. My first job was as a candy-striper there in the medical records department. We used to walk our dog on the lawn as seen in the view from Outer Drive. My girlfriend and I used to babysit for the children of the hospital interns when we were teenagers.

Naomi

I have memories of Sinai even though I am only 19 years old. This was much of my family's main hospital. I remember going there and spending countless hours, in the waiting rooms and with my dad when he had his second open heart surgery in 1991, still a great place with great doctors and nurses. Many births of cousins and other relatives. This hospital and Beaumont in Royal Oak were the two main hospitals for the jewish community to go to in the late 20th century, however this one had a special place in jewish people's hearts because it was built for them.

NN

My grandpa was in Sinai in the early 1970s when he had cancer of the jaw. My grandparents lived in Lincoln Park, we lived in Wyandotte, neither of us ventured into Detroit very often. I remember feeling guilty because I was excited about being in Detroit, during a time when I was supposed to be sad. To us Downriver Rats, Sinai looked incomparably majestic.

Suze

Sinai Hospital was bought out by the Detroit Medical Center about 5 years ago. Then for cost cutting they combined Grace Hospital And Sinai into Sinai-Grace Hospital using the Grace facility. Sinai could not survive on its own due to lower insurance Reimbursements and the fact that many of the Jewish patrons had Moved up Southfield Fwy and Northwestern Hwy out of Detroit and The once flourishing Outer Drive area.

Craig

Sinai Hospital of Detroit was like no other hospital in Detroit. It was a place where sick people went to get healed with the philosophy "to save a single life is to save the world!" In 1990, Michigan healthcare statistics revealed it had the lowest morbidity of any Michigan hospital. My first job as a pharmacist was at Sinai; skills learned that established a successful professional career for me. Sinai saved my fathers' life in 1995 through an aggressive ventilator wein program like no other...none. I always felt rich driving every morning onto the plush campus to work and then greet such dedicated, intelligent co-workers. Legend had it that when the original founding fathers met to select a location, one futurist wanted then to build at 13 and Woodward (site of Beaumont!) but the Jewish community was at Outer Drive/Sheaffer...the rest is history. Internal turmoil boiled over through the 1990's when Sinai wanted to sell, it appears it literally became a feeding frenzy by all parties and the actual physcical plant took the beating! Another theory has it that "a patient felt they were mistreated in about 1997 and the DMC quickly rectified the situation and closed the original Sinai to keep the press happy." I don't know, others felt the ICU's needed remodeling etc. We all lost when Sinai disbanded, it's more than a building, it's a serious loss for all of us requiring healthcare. Lastly, go right ahead and believe it, it's like the future shock reality of American healthcare. Sadly this mess was associated with the Jewish community of Detroit whom bankrolled decades of losses to preserve the Sinai Hospital of Detroit.

Eric