While a Rambam doctor works in Central America at the site of the catastrophic volcano eruption, dozens of senior officials from around the world are learning how to cope with disasters at the Haifa hospital.

Dr. Eyal Fuchs, a senior physician in the Lung Institute at Rambam left for Central America last weekend as part of an Israeli aid delegation officially sent to the volcano disaster area in Guatemala. In parallel, representatives of two South American countries, Colombia and Paraguay, are at Rambam as part of a unique training program for managing trauma care and mass casualty events.

Following the request of the Guatemalan President to receive the assistance of medical experts in the field of burns and lung diseases, the Emergency Division of the Ministry of Health responded to and within hours had organized a delegation of Israeli experts, including a team of plastic surgeons and trauma/disaster experts. Rambam’s Dr. Fuchs is a lung specialist. The delegation is expected to remain in the area for about a week and a half to provide assistance in treating the many victims of burns and breathing problems resulting from inhalation of volcanic dust.

In the meanwhile, 22 participants from 16 nations are at Rambam Health Care Campus attending the 19th Developing and Organizing a Trauma System and Mass Casualty Management Course. The course is offered through Rambam’s Teaching Center for Trauma, Emergency, and Mass Casualty Situations (MCS) in cooperation with MASHAV, Israel’s national aid agency and The Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The aim is to translate the Israeli experience into practical tools and methodologies that will be used by course graduates to establish and develop a trauma system and to manage MCS in their own countries. To date, 541 government representatives, decision-makers, and field personnel from 78 countries have attended this course at Rambam.

Professor Beyar shares, “The relevance of this course is particularly evident in light of the catastrophic volcano eruption in Guatemala last week. While people were training for such events at Rambam, Israel sent its own team, with one of our own experts, Dr. Eyal Fuchs, to Guatemala, in direct response to their need.”

Rambam is the only Level 1 trauma center in northern Israel with vast experience in trauma and MCS. The teaching center was established in 1999. To date, the center has trained more than 3,000 health care professionals and officials from 61 nations.

Dr. Eyal Fuchs