Proud as if they know how important their job is they walk next to their escorts, the dogs that helped in the search for survivors. The medical team and the rescue team of the Israeli army that went to Haiti to help in the aftermath of the destructive earthquake returned to Israel, after fourteen days of hard work. The delegation was greeted by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Minister of Defense Ehud Barak and the Commander in Chief of the Israeli army Gabi Ashkenazi.
Netanyahu praised the team for the speed of their actions in Haiti. “Forty-eight hours after the terrible earthquake on January 15, you were already on your way. The plan was to set up the field hospital within twenty hours, and in less then 10 hours everything was ready to start”. Dr. Guy Lin, trauma surgeon and head of the trauma department of Naharia hospital, was head coordinator of the operation team. In 2001 he also went to India to help with a similar disaster. “My whole life I have felt the urge to help people. And when asked if I wanted to join the team in Haiti, my answer was immediately yes”. In preparation for this action aid a number of officers of the Israeli army flew to the Dominican Republic and traveled from there by jeep to Port-au-Prince. They looked for a location that would be central and easy to protect, in the vicinity of the airport. They found a soccer field.
Because Israel is always quickly on the spot to provide help when big disasters strike the world, as in Turkey (earthquake 1999), Greece (earthquake 1999) and Rwanda (the aftermath of the civil war in 1994), they have learned very well what is necessary with these kinds of disasters and they work with a standard script. Lin:”We were equipped with a pharmacy, an intensive care unit, two operating rooms, a paediatric ward, a radiology room, surgery and internal department, a maternity ward and first aid”.
The first five days were the most difficult and also the most crucial. The hospitals in Haiti were either destroyed or about to collapse. Doctors who had survived the disaster tried to do their utmost working in the open air, something that was almost impossible, mainly because of the lack of equipment. Lin:”Those first days there were hardly any other aid agencies and the only hospital that was functioning was ours. People arrived from everywhere, on their own, with family members, or they were brought to us by the many volunteers. And apart from all those wounded people there were dead people. They were lying everywhere, the smell was unbearable, not where we were working, but if you just walked outside, it overwhelmed you. What we saw around us I strongly associated with the Shoah, the pictures that I know from it. A few months ago I accompanied my daughters’ school class to Poland where we visited former concentration camps. There we witnessed the industry of death; in Haiti we accomplished an industry of life”.
Also Doctor Tarif Beder was part of the team. He is an Israeli Druze, paediatrician and a professional soldier. “After five days, because of lack of sleep, we were totally broken. We were working continuously 24 hours a day; luckily a Columbian medical team arrived. They were looking for a place to help. Temporarily they replaced us so that we could have a rest; afterwards they stayed and helped which enabled us to perform even more operations”. During the past weekend Beder realised that the Druze community in Israel is proud that he was part of the medical team in Haiti. Beder:“This is very encouraging. If necessary I will go back without hesitation. It is good that Israel helps with these kind of calamities, in fact you wonder where the other countries were. Why did they not come immediately, especially those first days when there was such a big need for aid?”.
Lin:”A difficult part was that we wanted to help everybody, but that was impossible. As a trauma surgeon I encounter on a daily base the most terrible things…. this is not something that affects me, but I am not used to making choices, something that happened in Haiti continuously. It was terrible but we just had no alternative! Sometimes because a child was so badly wounded that saving it was nearly impossible and another child had more chance to survive, or simply because we had no operating place left or we needed space for the less seriously wounded”.
Every difficult decision was being discussed by an ethical committee of three doctors who were not directly in contact with the patients; “So that we did not need to carry the responsibility for these decisions”. There was another protection. The main language in Haiti is Creole, and this language barrier unwittingly added some protection.
Lin: “it was difficult to talk to the victims which helped us not to get overly involved emotionally. Although on the other hand because of the treatments it was not always simple. But in a non verbal way we could also explain a lot”. Beder: “We were able to return home after new aid teams, amongst them from the American army, had arrived and after the regular medical service started to function a bit. This also made it easier for us to leave. Patients that were still lying in our hospital were transferred to other hospitals. We left all our equipment which will be used where necessary under supervision of the Israeli ambassador in Haiti”. Lin returned on Thursday, and started operating in Naharia on Friday, now four days later his thoughts and feelings are still in Haiti. We really made a difference, I do not feel a hero, but I do feel a better human being and if necessary I will return tomorrow. After the Shoah, Israel is obligated to fulfill these kinds of missions. It is our message to the world”. And Beder continues: "What we teach our soldiers about saving lives and that borders and backgrounds are not important we practiced in Haiti. We are there when necessary and in fact all countries should act like that”.
The delegation left 30 tons of medical equipment for use in the ongoing aid effort. This includes bandaging gear, surgery equipment, two incubators and other medical accessories as well as 1150 blankets, 30 large-sized tents, 500 mattresses, 200 sleeping bags and kitchen equipment. The equipment will be distributed to tent-cities in different locations in Haiti, under the coordination of the Israeli ambassador in the country.
During its stay in Haiti, the Israeli delegation treated more than 1110 patients, conducted 319 successful surgeries, delivered 16 births including three in caesarian sections and saved many from within the ruins. The Israeli delegation consisted of 236 members, including 218 IDF soldiers and officers and 18 civilians.
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