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Clevelander one of 34 physicians in mass casualty training in Israel
BY: TOBY KLEIN GREENWALD Special to the CJN
Thirty-four North American physicians, members of the American Physicians Fellowship (APF), came to Israel to prepare for whatever Israel needs in its next emergency.
Dr. Lawrence Jacobs, a cardiologist at Hillcrest Hospital, was one of them.
They arrived on Nov. 4 for a five-day course in Israeli emergency and trauma medicine. Their goal is to return on immediate notice in case of war or other national emergency to take the place of Israeli doctors called to the front as part of their IDF reserve duties.
“This is a great program,” enthuses Jacobs. “I’ve received brochures and fliers for years, but this is the first time I took the course, the first time I’ve gotten a bird’s-eye view of the Israeli medical organization. In terms of disaster management, you hear all about suicide bombings and the chaos, but the response to the multiple casualty events are meticulously planned and managed. That is probably why the Israelis do as well as anybody can do in keeping the mortality rate low. We saw how Magen David Adom plans trauma disasters, but we also saw responses to chemical, biological and radiation warfare n that sort of thing.”
The trip is five intense days of training, explains Dr. Mike Frogel, vice president of APF (www.apfmed.org). Frogel is chief of general pediatrics at Schneider Children’s Hospital in New Hyde Park, N.Y. His organization gives fellowships to over 50 Israeli physicians to train in the U.S. and Canada in various sub-specialties, and then they return to Israel. Many of them are leaders in the country now, including the director general of Hadassah Medical Center, Professor Shlomo Mor-Yosef.
Secondly, APF brings physicians from the U.S. and Canada to Israel. During a time of emergency, these physicians would practice specialties at Israeli hospitals in order to free up emergency staff to go to the disaster or mass-casualty situations.
“We had an opportunity to see the army medical training base and how they’re trained and to see simulated events,” says Jacobs. “Today we were in Sheba Hospital, and we had an opportunity to participate with the simulators.”
In Israel, physicians practice on dummies. “The advantage in doing it on dummies is that there is no risk to the patient,” says Jacobs.
The advantage of the simulation center in Sheba, a pioneer in this field, is that surgeons can perform more types of surgery and other procedures, and there is immediate feedback on how they’re doing because the manikins are computerized and they do all the things a patient would do if the physician made a mistake. Last year, 55 medical professionals from Hadassah alone were mobilized from hospitals, and had they been at war (in Lebanon) another week, they would have had to call on the APF doctors.
The APF works closely with the Ministry of Health, and its physicians attend lectures given by the leadership in Israeli emergency preparedness. “Many of our physicians have brought back knowledge gained from these courses to the U.S. and Canada and applied that to their local emergency medical plans,” says Frogel.
The physicians’ most exciting experience, says Frogel, was a medical simulation of an IDF battle, taking care of acute causalities in the field and erecting a field hospital within minutes. “Our adrenalin was pumping just watching it, and today we’ll be taking part in it. We do this twice a year, each time with different volunteers.”
The program includes a trip to Sderot, where the physicians will get a close view of the danger behind the headlines.
Dr. Lawrence Jacobs, a cardiologist at Hillcrest Hospital, was one of them.
They arrived on Nov. 4 for a five-day course in Israeli emergency and trauma medicine. Their goal is to return on immediate notice in case of war or other national emergency to take the place of Israeli doctors called to the front as part of their IDF reserve duties.
“This is a great program,” enthuses Jacobs. “I’ve received brochures and fliers for years, but this is the first time I took the course, the first time I’ve gotten a bird’s-eye view of the Israeli medical organization. In terms of disaster management, you hear all about suicide bombings and the chaos, but the response to the multiple casualty events are meticulously planned and managed. That is probably why the Israelis do as well as anybody can do in keeping the mortality rate low. We saw how Magen David Adom plans trauma disasters, but we also saw responses to chemical, biological and radiation warfare n that sort of thing.”
The trip is five intense days of training, explains Dr. Mike Frogel, vice president of APF (www.apfmed.org). Frogel is chief of general pediatrics at Schneider Children’s Hospital in New Hyde Park, N.Y. His organization gives fellowships to over 50 Israeli physicians to train in the U.S. and Canada in various sub-specialties, and then they return to Israel. Many of them are leaders in the country now, including the director general of Hadassah Medical Center, Professor Shlomo Mor-Yosef.
Secondly, APF brings physicians from the U.S. and Canada to Israel. During a time of emergency, these physicians would practice specialties at Israeli hospitals in order to free up emergency staff to go to the disaster or mass-casualty situations.
“We had an opportunity to see the army medical training base and how they’re trained and to see simulated events,” says Jacobs. “Today we were in Sheba Hospital, and we had an opportunity to participate with the simulators.”
In Israel, physicians practice on dummies. “The advantage in doing it on dummies is that there is no risk to the patient,” says Jacobs.
The advantage of the simulation center in Sheba, a pioneer in this field, is that surgeons can perform more types of surgery and other procedures, and there is immediate feedback on how they’re doing because the manikins are computerized and they do all the things a patient would do if the physician made a mistake. Last year, 55 medical professionals from Hadassah alone were mobilized from hospitals, and had they been at war (in Lebanon) another week, they would have had to call on the APF doctors.
The APF works closely with the Ministry of Health, and its physicians attend lectures given by the leadership in Israeli emergency preparedness. “Many of our physicians have brought back knowledge gained from these courses to the U.S. and Canada and applied that to their local emergency medical plans,” says Frogel.
The physicians’ most exciting experience, says Frogel, was a medical simulation of an IDF battle, taking care of acute causalities in the field and erecting a field hospital within minutes. “Our adrenalin was pumping just watching it, and today we’ll be taking part in it. We do this twice a year, each time with different volunteers.”
The program includes a trip to Sderot, where the physicians will get a close view of the danger behind the headlines.
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