Dignitaries, academics, ministers, and the public attended the cornerstone-laying ceremony for the Norman Braman Emergency Medical Center on the Helmsley Regional Medical Complex on June 2, 2016, which lay the historic groundwork for a medical center and school to serve residents throughout Judea and Samaria. 
The event was attended by Health Minister Yaakov Litzmann; Deputy Minister of Regional Development MK Ayoub Kara; Mayor of Ariel, Eli Shaviro; Ariel University President, Yehuda Danon; Chancellor of the University, Yigal Cohen-Orgad; American Friends of Ariel Executive Director, Avi Zimmerman; and representatives of the Ministry of Health and the Council for Higher Education.
Health Minister Yaakov Litzmann welcomed the initiative, saying it is “fundamental, above all, to help others.”
“I have seen the impact of medical schools on the cities in which they are established, and I believe that the opening of the Ariel School of Medicine will propel the city forward and meet the demands of the existing doctor shortage,” Litzmann said.
The new center will include a trauma unit, dentistry, occupational therapy, and a variety of emergency and imaging medical equipment.
It will also serve as the center for research, rehabilitation, psychology and social work, as well as the clinical field training of Ariel University Medical students, as part of the great importance the university places on the integration of the academic community and the local community. Read more about the center here.
American Friends of Ariel thanks Norman Braman for his generous contribution for the seed money for this project.
The new medical center will join the Ariel Emergency Medical Clinic, which provides urgent care to over 35,000 people. Over 1,000 people have been treated at the center each month since its grand opening on December 14, 2015.
The center will serve both Israelis and Palestinians in the region with a variety of medical services – services which, until now, were largely inaccessible to the many Judea-Samaria residents without private vehicles.