Gaza: An Eyewitness Account
Raising Awareness and Funds
Featuring
Dr. Ismail Mehr of IMANA/American Medical Mission to Gaza
Saturday, February 28th, 2009
6:30 PM
Islamic Center of Boston
126 Boston Post Road
Wayland, MA 01778
The American Medical Mission to Gaza was the only group of American doctors to enter Gaza after the recent fighting to provide medical assistance and to witness the humanitarian crisis first-hand. Dr. Mehr led the group of doctors to the Gaza strip in January 2009.
Donations will be collected at the door and throughout the evening for Islamic Relief USA.
Student $10/Non-Student $15
Event open to Public. Please Forward Widely,
Hosted by Islamic Center of Boston Youth Group
Co-sponsored by Islamic Center of Boston and Muslim Public Affairs Council-Boston
RSVP to wayland.yg@icbwayland.org
Questions? Contact: Wayland.yg@icbwayland.org
Facebook Event
Monday, February 9, 2009
Local Doctor Describes Chaos in Gaza
Dolly A Butz of the Sioux City Journal reports:
St. Luke's physician treated conflict's injured
SIOUX CITY -- You hear machine gunfire in the distance. F-16s break the sound barrier overhead. Patients are suffering from chronic illnesses all around you, but you don't have the necessary drugs to treat them. The patient you treated a few days before for a gunshot wound is found smothered in his hospital bed.
Working in the emergency room at a hospital in Gaza City is "a little different" than working in the emergency room at St. Luke's Regional Medical Center-Sioux City, Dr. Rick Colwell learned during a recent 10-day humanitarian and medical mission to the war-torn area.
The World Health Organization reports that more than 5,200 Palestinians, including 1,552 children, 652 women and 22 health-care professionals, have been wounded in the recent fighting between Israelis and Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
On Jan. 21, Colwell was one of nine American and four Canadian doctors who left for Gaza on a trip sponsored by the Islamic Medical Association of North America.
From Cairo, Egypt, the American Medical Mission to Gaza made a six-hour drive to the Gaza-Egypt border. They were able to cross the border on the second day with the help of an attorney. When they arrived in Gaza City, a cease fire had been called and Israeli troops were pulling out.
Colwell described the scene at the hospital in Gaza City where he put in 10-12-hour days as "controlled chaos." It contained no triage unit and people were milling around outside, making it difficult to determine who was a patient and who was not. The hospital's doctors were working 20 hour-days, for nearly four weeks straight with few supplies, equipment and medications to treat patients, Colwell said.
Colwell went to work immediately treating patients with gunshot wounds, fractures and lacerations.
A tumor on a 3-year-old boy's liver had grown to the size of a football when the child came to the hospital for surgery. Colwell said the boy, who needs chemotherapy, could have easily been treated in the United States, but due to the embargo and border closings medicine is not available.
"Something has to be done about this embargo," he said. "It's inhumane to lock people in an outdoor prison, basically."
Colwell, who returned to Sioux City Sunday, said he intends to go back to Gaza and bring medical equipment with him, but he has no definite plans at this time.
Witness to war
Dr. Barbara-Anne Huculak, instructor of the physical therapist assistant program at Western Iowa Tech Community College, was staying at a hotel five blocks from the Old City in Jerusalem, when Israel launched missile attacks against Gaza on Dec. 27.Huculak, who was in Jerusalem on a historical and archeological tour of Israel and Jordan, said her group took alternate routes to sites in Jerusalem, and wasn't allowed to venture out within the city of Amman, Jordan, because of protesting."I guess I just go with the flow and don't let those things bother me, but I keep alert and I'm aware of my surroundings," she said. "It is unusual because it's not an everyday experience."
St. Luke's physician treated conflict's injured
SIOUX CITY -- You hear machine gunfire in the distance. F-16s break the sound barrier overhead. Patients are suffering from chronic illnesses all around you, but you don't have the necessary drugs to treat them. The patient you treated a few days before for a gunshot wound is found smothered in his hospital bed.
Working in the emergency room at a hospital in Gaza City is "a little different" than working in the emergency room at St. Luke's Regional Medical Center-Sioux City, Dr. Rick Colwell learned during a recent 10-day humanitarian and medical mission to the war-torn area.
The World Health Organization reports that more than 5,200 Palestinians, including 1,552 children, 652 women and 22 health-care professionals, have been wounded in the recent fighting between Israelis and Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
On Jan. 21, Colwell was one of nine American and four Canadian doctors who left for Gaza on a trip sponsored by the Islamic Medical Association of North America.
From Cairo, Egypt, the American Medical Mission to Gaza made a six-hour drive to the Gaza-Egypt border. They were able to cross the border on the second day with the help of an attorney. When they arrived in Gaza City, a cease fire had been called and Israeli troops were pulling out.
Colwell described the scene at the hospital in Gaza City where he put in 10-12-hour days as "controlled chaos." It contained no triage unit and people were milling around outside, making it difficult to determine who was a patient and who was not. The hospital's doctors were working 20 hour-days, for nearly four weeks straight with few supplies, equipment and medications to treat patients, Colwell said.
Colwell went to work immediately treating patients with gunshot wounds, fractures and lacerations.
A tumor on a 3-year-old boy's liver had grown to the size of a football when the child came to the hospital for surgery. Colwell said the boy, who needs chemotherapy, could have easily been treated in the United States, but due to the embargo and border closings medicine is not available.
"Something has to be done about this embargo," he said. "It's inhumane to lock people in an outdoor prison, basically."
Colwell, who returned to Sioux City Sunday, said he intends to go back to Gaza and bring medical equipment with him, but he has no definite plans at this time.
Witness to war
Dr. Barbara-Anne Huculak, instructor of the physical therapist assistant program at Western Iowa Tech Community College, was staying at a hotel five blocks from the Old City in Jerusalem, when Israel launched missile attacks against Gaza on Dec. 27.Huculak, who was in Jerusalem on a historical and archeological tour of Israel and Jordan, said her group took alternate routes to sites in Jerusalem, and wasn't allowed to venture out within the city of Amman, Jordan, because of protesting."I guess I just go with the flow and don't let those things bother me, but I keep alert and I'm aware of my surroundings," she said. "It is unusual because it's not an everyday experience."
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