At Soroka Hospital in Beer Sheva, our OU Mission group visited more injured soldiers. One was Devir Avraham (ben Rachel) Diamond, who made aliyah with family from the United States. He is married to a lovely woman; he dandled their adorable 1-yr old daughter on his lap. Devur served in Gaza until last Saturday night, when Hamas fighters emerged from a nearby tunnel. He killed them, but one of his bullets hit his targets suicide belt which exploded, injuring his right eye. He asked not to be photographed, but that people should pray for his recovery. The video shows the incredible patriotic spirit of Israelis. A man named Eli Israeli and his wife spontaneously started praying, singing, and dancing to Am Yisrael Chai (the Jewish people lives!) in the hospital lobby, drawing others into their circle and astonishing the hospital staff. Soroka has admitted 450 wounded soldiers in this war so far. It is a 7-10 minute helicopter flight from Gaza, but it is often hard to find area to land in Gaza which is safe from Hamas missles. Every family and soldier receives psychological and social work care for trauma. Founded as community hospital with 230 beds in 1959, Soroka now has 1337 beds, and has all medical specialties and subspecialties. It serves as a tertiary care center for 1.2 million people, about 15% of Israel’s population, and covering 60% of Israel’s land area, extending to Eilat in the south and including a huge Beduoin population. Soroka prepared in advance for the war since some its facilities are not protected from missles. It moved 24 1-lb preemies from its NICU, with 8 staff/baby. It closed down non-protected operating rooms, CAT machines and other equipment. Shifts increased to 12 hour shifts. Built protected camp area for staffs children so parents can work at hospital. During Operations Lead Cast and then Amud Anan, increased direct and indirect costs to Soroka were 30,000,000 shekels. In the first, the government provided some compensation; for Amud Anan Expenses are higher during war and income resources are lessened due to closed facilities; no sources of funding are available to protect the rest of the hospital.
Posted on: Sun, 27 Jul 2014 12:19:38 +0000
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