Sioux City Doctor Heads to Gaza to Help

CBS-Affiliate KMEG 14's Steve Long (Sioux City, IA) Reports:



A Sioux City doctor is getting ready to fly halfway around the world, to help injured Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Reporter Steve Long met the doctor and explains why he is reaching out to those suffering so far away from our hometowns.

He leaves Sioux City on Wednesday morning before sunrise with stops in Minneapolis and New York before arriving in Cairo, Egypt on Thursday. The big question: Why is a doctor from Sioux City going all the way to Gaza?

There is a fragile ceasefire now in place between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza, but in the process of the fighting, over a thousand Palestinians died and several thousand more were injured.

"There's a crisis there and they need help. I'm trained to give that kind of help," Dr. Rick Colwell says.

Dr. Rick Colwell is an emergency room physician at St. Luke's and one of nine U.S. doctors and four from Canada leaving on a 10-day mission to Gaza, providing relief to doctors there overwhelmed with recent need.

"This is through the Islamic Medical Association of North America and I have actually done relief work with them before. In 2005, the earthquake in Pakistan, through this organization I went over there and worked in the Himalayan Mountains," says Dr. Colwell.

His wife Eena is originally from Pakistan. They met about a decade ago in Des Moines and Dr. Colwell is himself now a Muslim. Their seven-month-old daughter's name is Emaan, which he says means faith. And faith plays into Dr. Colwell's trip to Gaza.

"You try to do things that you think God would want you to do. It's to please God first and second would be to help the people that are there, that need so much help," says Dr. Colwell.

Help that is now on the way.

They don't know exactly what to expect when they get there, they may not even be let into Gaza. But if they're not, they have arrangements to help wounded Palestinians from Gaza at a hospital in Egypt.

This story also appeared on KPTH Fox 44 (Sioux City, IA).

A Brief Conversation with Illinois Radiologist Dr. Imran Qureshi

AMMG: Why are you heading to Gaza?
IQ: The Gazan civilians are incurring tremendous difficulties. Without access to electricity, food, and medical care, many of the injured are not getting proper care. It is my hope--along with the rest of the IMANA medical relief team--to help the situation in any small way that we can. We feel that we can use our training to provide some relief (albeit small) to the existing medical infrastructure. Our secondary goal is to draw attention to the medical situation in Gaza and inspire subsequent teams to follow suit and volunteer their services.

AMMG: Even with the cease fire, Israeli troops remain in Gaza and the possibility that hostilities resume looms. How are you handling the risks associated with going into a war zone?

IQ: As a team, we are informing the State Department and the Egyptian Ministry of Health about our services. We do understand that this does not guarantee our safety and we will have to use common sense to stay out of danger. Nevertheless, the team understands that there is an inherent risk to entering Gazan territories despite the ceasefire.

AMMG: How can other Americans support you in your mission to aid suffering civilians in Gaza?

IQ: The team would first like to encourage other volunteers to follow suit. Nurses, paramedics, and physicians are all in need. Secondly, medical supplies are of the utmost importance. Without the appropriate supplies and medicines, care will be limited at best. Thirdly, basic needs such as food, clean water, and electricity are in need. Of these, we would like to see food and water available to not only patients, but all citizens.

Dr. Imran Qureshi is an interventional radiologist from Naperville, Illinois and serves as Medical Director of Interventional Radiology at Rush Copley Hospital in Aurora, Illinois. He received his medical degree from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry in 1999.