Helping rocket victims stressing health support

Medical centers and health support organizations continue to be busy as Operation Pillar of Defense proceeds.

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
MDA Ambulance (photo credit: WIkicommons)
MDA Ambulance
(photo credit: WIkicommons)
Medical centers and health support organizations continued to be busy as Operation Pillar of Defense proceeded on Sunday. Kaplan Medical Center in Rehovot saved the arm of a man who was wounded by a rocket in Kiryat Malachi last week.
Boris Chorneh, a Tiberias resident who came on aliya from Tajikistan 15 years ago, was wounded by shrapnel as a result of the rocket when transporting furniture from Haifa to the apartment that was hit. His moving van was completely destroyed.
Chorneh lost a lot of blood and underwent an operation that took several hours to repair the main arm artery and nerve that had been severed.
The patient faces a long rehabilitation process in the hospital.
Dr. Yoram Klein, head of the urgent surgery and trauma department at Kaplan, said the patient had to receive several units of blood before he could undergo the surgery.
Soroka University Medical Center in Beersheba said that since the beginning of the campaign last Wednesday, it treated more than 100 wounded, and that 16 – half of them soldiers – remain hospitalized. A “camp” for children of the staff was opened so the parents could work without worry.
Click for full JPost coverage
Click for full JPost coverage
Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon reported that since the beginning of the attacks, it treated 74 people for wounds, most of them light, plus 36 with anxiety attacks and two with blast injuries.
Five people remain as inpatients.
On Sunday, 17 people sent to Barzilai were suffering physical injuries and 15 suffered from anxiety attacks.
Eli Beer, the founder and head of United Hatazalah who is in the South along with other volunteers, reported on Sunday that they had treated a fireman wounded in his head by shrapnel. The 36- year-old fireman was treated by three UH volunteers who arrived 10 minutes before an IDF doctor arrived. They couldn’t go into hiding while attending to the fireman, though missiles were flying above their heads. Only two of the three volunteers had on bulletproof vests.
The Israel Pychotrauma Center of Jerusalem’s Herzog Hospital reported that it had received a request for help from parents in the South who had difficulty calming their children during rocket attacks. Professionals there decided to open their phone lines specifically for parenting issues, as they have much experience over the past eight years helping families in Sderot.
The first woman who called is a mother of eight children; another mother called in panic, saying her daughter was called up for IDF reserve service.
Beterem, the Israel Center for Child Safety and Health, urged parents to take special precaution during the emergency to prevent injuries to youngsters, which often happens in strange surroundings.
Children tend to fall and suffer road accidents and burns in such circumstances of crowding in shelters, different sleeping conditions and as a result of stress and anxiety.
Children under the age of nine must not be left without an adult even for a moment.
Always belt them into vehicles.
Keep fire, medications, cleaning materials and other dangerous things out of their reach.
The Tirat Hacarmel Mental Health Center has organized a support group in its clinic for adults on how to cope with psychiatric patients at times of stress. Psychiatrists, psychologists and other professionals are giving advice.
The Israel Medical Association has initiated a camp for children (aged seven to 12) of doctors in the South so that while parents are busy treating the wounded, their offspring can be safe and calm.
Social and educational activities and trips have been organized.
The Health Ministry and the National Insurance Institute are running a center to deal with people in the South who are suffering from anxiety.
For more details, call 106 in the area.
Magen David Adom on Sunday welcomed a team of 14 medics and paramedics from New York who came to help and identify with the troubles faced by Israelis.
They will join MDA teams at their stations in Ashdod, Ashkelon, Netivot, Ofakim and Sderot. The New Yorkers have come for three weeks.