On November 6th, Election Day in the USA, a delegation of 20 North American doctors came to Rambam Health Care Campus and pledged their readiness to be “drafted” to help Israel in times of national emergency

The physicians have promised that in an Israeli national crisis, they will come here to help – for example, by taking the place of surgeons and other hospital doctors who have been called to the battlefront.

The physicians were given a survey of Rambam’s disaster management network, and also voted with their feet by touring the Emergency Room and the Sammy Ofer Fortified Underground Emergency Hospital.

“I’ve spent several years trying to learn best practices in emergency department disaster preparedness,” said Dr. Peter Sananman of Penn Presbyterian Medical Center. “This was a great opportunity to learn best-in-class systems and processes from those who’ve learned from experience.”

The delegation was sent to Rambam by the American Physicians Fellowship for Medicine in Israel. The organization’s flagship program gives fellowships to Israeli doctors for advanced clinical training in the USA and Canada. The APF also annually sends members to Israel for an Emergency and Disaster Management Course offered in conjunction with the Ministry of Health and the IDF Medical Corps.

The APF is the only North American body designated by the State of Israel to maintain an Emergency Medical Volunteer (EMV) Registry. Most recently, Registry members took part in a nationwide Israeli drill testing the health care system’s preparedness for a massive earthquake. “Their response to the simulated call-up was phenomenal,” says APF Israel Director Amir Blumenfeld, MD. “Sixty-eight physicians immediately volunteered to be in Israel within forty-eight hours.”

To watch the visit of the American doctors:

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)