Last week the ultramodern Emergency Room of Bikur Cholim
Hospital was turned into a veritable "War Room" as, in less
than an hour, 118 casualties were received there from the
latest terrorist attack, a suicide bomber on Jaffa Road.
Lately, the attacks are happening with tragic frequency and
Bikur Cholim Hospital, just a few meters from Jaffa Road and
near the Sbarro restaurant and Zion square, has become the
central life-saving force in the area.
Bikur Cholim Hospital is prepared to absorb large quantities
of wounded in a swift and efficient manner. During the past
year since the terrorist attacks began in the center of
Jerusalem, Bikur Cholim Hospital found itself again and again
playing a central role in the saving of life and limb.
As soon as sounds of shooting or an explosion is heard, the
emergency staff is ready with the stretchers, preparing the
beds at the entrance to the Emergency Room for when the
casualties arrive.
The Emergency Room of Bikur Cholim Hospital was recently
remodeled and is equipped with the latest equipment to cope
with such dreaded events. The ER has 25 hospitalization
posts, which can be doubled in an emergency. Receiving 118
wounded at once made the ER expand into other departments and
turned the whole floor into an extended Emergency Room.
Rabbi Moshe Cohen, Deputy Director of the Hospital, said,
"The recent attacks confirm once again that the location of
the Bikur Cholim Hospital, sole medical center in the heart
of Jerusalem, is vital in the saving of lives.
"Very few know that the recent explosion found Bikur Cholim
Hospital with an additional security problem. Precisely at
the time, former PM Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife were in
the hospital for a routine examination which had been
scheduled way in advance. Security guards had the task of
finding and placing the former PM and his wife in a safe
place. From the window of a secret place, Netanyahu saw the
arrival of the wounded and the staff's swift attendance.
Within 28 minutes, the patient capacity of the hospital
doubled without interfering with the smooth running of the
medical center. The regular patients continued to receive
treatment as if nothing had happened. On that day 8
angiograms were performed and the head of Emergency performed
an additional 2 cardiac bypass procedures."
And if all this were not enough, a radio bulletin was
suddenly heard: "The Jerusalem district Police Chief is on
his way to the hospital, having suffered a heart attack."
Superintendent Mickey Levy was brought in while the early
signs of unstable angina turned into a full-fledged heart
attack -- right at the entrance of Bikur Cholim Hospital. The
medical staff rushed to treat him and he underwent a cardiac
catheterization and angioplasty procedure for the widening of
the arteries. 118 wounded plus one!
Hagomel -- A Second Time
Lying in one of the beds occupied by the wounded from the
latest terrorist attacks was Moshe Yitzchok Sokolow from the
USA. Sokolow had come to Israel with his family to visit his
daughter who is studying in one of the seminaries in
Jerusalem. On Sunday, the family was supposed to return to
the States and in the morning they were doing their last
minute shopping.
Moshe Sokolow is trying to reconstruct what happened to him.
"I came out of the shoe store and we waited outside the store
for a relative. Next to me were my wife and my two young
daughters. All of a sudden, I heard a deafening explosion. I
looked around and I couldn't see my family. They were all
thrown up in the air, each one in a different direction. My
pain told me that I too was hurt. Everything hurt me. My face
was covered with blood.
"The next thing I remember is that I was transferred to an
ambulance in which there was already another (badly) wounded
person. I arrived at Bikur Cholim Hospital and I was able to
go down by myself from the ambulance. . . I was brought into
the ER and suddenly I discovered my 12 year old daughter who
was injured by a splinter in her eye. I realized suddenly
that I didn't see the rest of my family. It turned out that
my wife who was hurt in her leg and my youngest daughter had
been evacuated to a different hospital.
"In the meantime, the doctors came over to me and it turned
out that I was injured only with light wounds. I just
required some stitches on my face."
He reflects. "A few months ago, on September 11 during the
explosion of the Twin Towers I was in my office on the 38th
floor of the second tower. When I heard the blast in the
first tower, we were alerted to evacuate the building. I
rushed down the stairs. I remembered that I ran in the middle
of smoke and soot and when I went out of the first tower the
whole area was covered with fire and smoke.
"No need to add that I said Hagomel. And now, I came
to the Holy Land and again a terrorist attack. . . But I
thank G-d that my life and my family's lives were spared. I
hope that I will have the strength to go to the beit
haknesset on Thursday to bensch Hagomel."
