The team was sent by the Hadassah Medical Organization as part of an official Israeli delegation coordinated by Israel’s Ministry of Health and the government of Israel.
By Shula Rosen
The Hadassah Medical Organization sent a team with advanced medical equipment to treat victims of Hurricane Melissa, one of the most severe storms to hit Jamaica.
The Israeli pediatric emergency team filled a crucial role after the storm severely damaged the island’s health care system, allowing doctors to diagnose and stabilize children under extreme emergency conditions.
The team was sent by the Hadassah Medical Organization as part of an official Israeli delegation coordinated by Israel’s Ministry of Health and the government of Israel.
The deployment followed the collapse of two Jamaican hospitals, which forced emergency patients to be rerouted to facilities that remained operational but quickly became overwhelmed.
Dr. Lea Sarna Cahan, a senior physician in the pediatric emergency room at Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem, and nurse Mor Ben-Simon from Hadassah’s pediatric department were embedded directly into a local emergency department, working alongside Jamaican doctors and nurses as patient volume surged.
Dr. Cahan, in a press release, said the Israeli staff integrated immediately into the emergency response. “When two Jamaican hospitals collapsed, emergency patients were redirected to the hospitals that remained operational. The HMO team worked shoulder to shoulder with doctors and staff in the ER,” she said.
Among the cases treated was a young girl who arrived suffering from severe abdominal pain. Dr. Cahan said access to diagnostic equipment brought from Israel allowed the team to act quickly. “She was quickly diagnosed and stabilized,” she said, crediting the ultrasound device used during the examination.
The volunteers also provided urgent care to assist the island’s existing medical staff, who were overworked because of the lack of available doctors, nurses and other medical professionals to treat the growing number of displaced and injured patients.
The Hadassah team continues assisting Jamaican medical staff as hospitals work to recover from the storm’s impact.
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