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The Second Lebanon War Experience at Western Galilee Hospital

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 July 2015

Bartholomew Lino ,
Arie Eisenman ,
Richard Schuster ,
Carlos Giloni ,
Masad Bharoum ,
Moshe Daniel  and
Cham Dallas
Bartholomew Lino
Affiliation:
Institute for Disaster Management, College of Public Health, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia
Arie Eisenman
Affiliation:
Emergency Department, Galilee Medical Center, Nahariya, Israel and Faculty of Medicine, Bar Ilan University, Zafed, Israel
Richard Schuster
Affiliation:
Center for Global Health, College of Public Health, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia
Carlos Giloni
Affiliation:
Galilee Medical Center, Nahariya, Israel
Masad Bharoum
Affiliation:
Galilee Medical Center, Nahariya, Israel
Moshe Daniel
Affiliation:
Galilee Medical Center, Nahariya, Israel
Cham Dallas*
Affiliation:
Institute for Disaster Management, College of Public Health, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia
*
Correspondence and reprint requests to Cham Dallas, PhD, 145 Wright Hall, Institute for Disaster Management, College of Public Health, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602 (e-mail: [email protected]).
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Abstract

The summer of 2006 in northern Israel served as the battleground for the second war against Hezbollah based along Israel’s border with southern Lebanon. Western Galilee Hospital (WGH), which is located only 6 miles from the Lebanese border, served as a major medical center in the vicinity of the fighting. The hospital was directly impacted by Hezbollah with a Katyusha rocket, which struck the ophthalmology department on the 4th floor. WGH was able to utilize a 450-bed underground facility that maintained full hospital functionality throughout the conflict. In a major feat of rapid evacuation, the entire hospital population was relocated under the cover of darkness to these bunkers in just over 1 hour, thus emptying the building prior to the missile impact. Over half of the patients presenting during the conflict did not incur physical injury but qualified as acute stress disorder patients. The particulars of this evacuation remain unique owing to the extraordinary circumstances, but many of the principles employed in this maneuver may serve as a template for other hospitals requiring emergency evacuation. Hospital functionality drastically changed to accommodate the operational reality of war, and many of these tactics warrant closer investigation for possible implementation in other conflict zones. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2016;10:152–156)

Keywords

hospital evacuationwarstress disorderstraumaticacutemissile attack
Type
From the Field
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 10 , Issue 1 , February 2016 , pp. 152 - 156
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc. 2015 

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Footnotes

Mr Lino is now with the East Tennessee State University, Gatton College of Pharmacy, Mountain Home, Tennessee.

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