Against the background of the war that broke out in Eastern Europe, a delegation of senior officials from Moldova visited Rambam Health Care Campus in order to understand how a hospital is run during emergency situations.
Members of the delegation from Moldova with Rambam staff. Photography: Rambam HCC
A senior delegation from Moldova recently visited Rambam Health Care Campus to learn how the hospital manages emergency and mass casualty situations. In an extraordinary coincidence, the visit, which had been planned some time ago, took place just as the fighting erupted in Ukraine.
The delegation, which consisted of doctors, nurses, and administrative personnel, was greeted by Dr. Michal Mekel, Deputy Director of Rambam; Ms. Gila Hyams, Director of Nursing and Director of Rambam’s Teaching Center for Trauma, Emergency and Mass Casualty Situations; Liora Utitz, Director of Nursing in Ruth Rappaport Children’s Hospital, and Rambam’s Mass Casualties Coordinator; Halil Namura, Mass Casualty Coordinator in the Nursing Administration; and Tali Schmitz-Golik, Emergency Coordinator in Administrative Management.
The delegation was given a comprehensive overview by Hyams. Subsequently, Dr. Hany Bahouth, Director of the Trauma and Emergency Center, spoke about the key elements of managing trauma and humanitarian emergencies. Afterwards, the group was taken to the hospital's underground Command and Control Center, where a simulated mass casualty situation was demonstrated for them. At the end of the exercise, the delegation was given a tour of the Sammy Ofer Fortified Underground Emergency Hospital, a facility first built to protect patients and staff during wartime, but which proved to be extremely useful during another type of national emergency – as a dedicated facility for the treatment of COVID-19 patients during the earlier waves of the pandemic.
The delegation was accompanied throughout by the Senior Department Director for Emergency Response in Israel’s Ministry of Health, Mr. Rafi Golani.