[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 9]
[House]
[Pages 12953-12954]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




           RECOGNIZING ISRAELI HUMANITARIAN EFFORTS IN HAITI

  (Ms. BERKLEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. BERKLEY. Madam Speaker, I am going to be putting into the 
Congressional Record an article in the Annals of Internal Medicine 
entitled Early Disaster Response in Haiti: the Israeli Field Hospital 
Experience. It talks about how the Israeli Defense Forces Medical Corps 
Field Hospital was fully operational only 89 hours after the earthquake 
struck and was capable of providing sophisticated medical care. In the 
10 days the hospital was operational, the Israelis treated over 1,100 
patients, hospitalized 737 patients, and performed 244 operations. At 
the same time, the Iranians were shipping Scud missiles through Syria 
to Hezbollah to rearm them on the northern border of Israel; the Turks 
were trying to create an international incident with their ridiculous 
flotilla; the Iraqis, the Sunnis and the Shiites kept killing each 
other. In Pakistan, the government seems to be immobile when it comes 
to the terrorist attacks in that country. In Afghanistan, the Taliban 
keeps killing Americans; and Hamas continues to terrorize its own 
Palestinian people in the Gaza. All of that while the Israelis are 
actually doing something important for humanity. I think we ought to 
wake up and appreciate what the Israelis do.

            [From Annals of Internal Medicine, May 4, 2010]

Early Disaster Response in Haiti: The Israeli Field Hospital Experience

(By Yitshak Kreiss, MD, MHA, MPA; Ofer Merin, MD; Kobi Peleg, PhD, MPH; 
 Gad Levy, MD; Shlomo Vinker, MD; Ram Sagi, MD; Avi Abargel, MD, MHA; 
Carmi Bartal, MD, MPH; Guy Lin, MD; Ariel Bar, MD, MHA; Elhanan Bar-On, 
      MD; Mitchell J. Schwaber, MD, MSc; and Nachman Ash, MD, MS)

       (The earthquake that struck Haiti in January 2010 caused an 
     estimated 230,000 deaths and injured approximately 250,000 
     people. The Israel Defense Forces Medical Corps Field 
     Hospital was fully operational on site only 89 hours after 
     the earthquake struck and was capable of providing 
     sophisticated medical care. During the 10 days the hospital 
     was operational, its staff treated 1111 patients, 
     hospitalized 737 patients, and performed 244 operations on 
     203 patients. The field hospital also served as a referral 
     center for medical teams from other countries that were 
     deployed in the surrounding areas.
       The key factor that enabled rapid response during the early 
     phase of the disaster from a distance of 6000 miles was a 
     well-prepared and trained medical unit maintained on 
     continuous alert. The prompt deployment of advanced-
     capability field hospitals is essential in disaster relief, 
     especially in countries with minimal medical infrastructure. 
     The changing medical requirements of people in an earthquake 
     zone dictate that field hospitals be designed to operate with 
     maximum flexibility and versatility regarding triage, staff 
     positioning, treatment priorities, and hospitalization 
     policies. Early coordination with local administrative bodies 
     is indispensable.)
       An earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter magnitude scale 
     struck close to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on 12 January 2010. 
     The official death toll was set at 230,000, and local 
     authorities estimated that 250,000 people were injured. This 
     catastrophic event galvanized a strong and rapid response 
     worldwide, and the Israeli government quickly decided to 
     launch a medical humanitarian mission to provide medical care 
     as advanced as possible under the circumstances.
       Whereas the fate of patients with life-threatening 
     internal-organ injuries is determined within the first hours 
     of a disaster, early provision of treatment for the 
     multitudes of patients with open fractures can prevent life-
     threatening sepsis and limb-threatening infections. In 
     addition, situations involving substantial casualties 
     combined with extensive damage to local medical facilities 
     and infrastructure highlight the need for a resourceful, 
     experienced, and trained medical team backed by a logistics 
     contingent. The Israel Defense Forces Medical Corps (IDF-MC) 
     Field Hospital comprises such a unit.
       The field hospital staff consisted of 121 servicemen and 
     servicewomen (Appendix Table 1, available at www.annals.org) 
     and was organized into medical, surgical, orthopedic, 
     pediatric, gynecologic, and ambulatory care divisions, as 
     well as auxiliary units (Appendix Figure, available at 
     www.annals.org), with a capacity of 60 inpatient beds that 
     could be expanded to 72.
       To ensure maximum optic independence and to shorten the 
     time to deployment, we brought all hospital supplies; a fully 
     stocked

[[Page 12954]]

     pharmacy, including sufficient oral antibiotics to be 
     distributed on discharge; imaging machinery; a laboratory 
     that could perform blood tests and urine chemistry, 
     hematology, blood gases, and microbiology analyses; and 
     autoclaves for sterilization. Energy sources (generators) and 
     accommodations (tents and latrines) were also brought from 
     Israel. This crucial effort was carried out by a highly 
     trained, skilled logistics unit of 109 personnel, including 
     computer and communication specialists, security staff, 
     kitchen staff, carpenters, plumbers, mechanics, electricians 
     and a burial team.

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