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Bikur Cholim

To Join the Bikur Cholim email list, please email Penina Braffman (peninajb@sas.upenn).

What is Bikur Cholim?

If you are interested in visiting Jewish kids in the University Children's Hospital, in getting to know patients in the regular hospital, brightening their day and making their stay more bearable, in delivering kosher food to patients and their families, or in a whole host of other activities, then Bikur Cholim is for you.

• Patient Visits
Our most consistent and well known service is regular visits to patients at the nearby Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP). During the week, and every Shabbat afternoon, students have the opportunity to visit Jewish patients in the hospitals, either in pairs or by themselves. Trips to HUP can last anywhere from twenty minutes to an hour and a half or more, and students can go as frequently or as infrequently as they like, at their convenience. On special occasions, we have gifts for patients, such as apples and honey on Rosh Hashanah and blankets.
By no means are our activities restricted to patient visits, however. We perform many other services for patients, including:
• Lending Jewish Books
• Helping to Find Blood Donors
• Providing Translators
• Providing Free Babysitting (both for families in the Children's Hospital and in the regular hospital)
• Running Errands
• Performing Religious Services (Kiddush, Havdalah, etc.)
• Lending Judaica Items (Electric Candles, Siddurim, etc.)
• Providing and Delivering Kosher Food