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Evacuation of a Mental Health Center During a Forest Fire in Israel

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 July 2014

Anatoly Kreinin ,
Tatiana Shakera ,
Ayala Sheinkman ,
Tamar Levi ,
Vered Tal  and
Jacob Polakiewicz
Anatoly Kreinin*
Affiliation:
Tirat Carmel Medical Health Center affiliated with the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa Israel.
Tatiana Shakera
Affiliation:
Tirat Carmel Medical Health Center affiliated with the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa Israel.
Ayala Sheinkman
Affiliation:
Tirat Carmel Medical Health Center affiliated with the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa Israel.
Tamar Levi
Affiliation:
Tirat Carmel Medical Health Center affiliated with the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa Israel.
Vered Tal
Affiliation:
Tirat Carmel Medical Health Center affiliated with the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa Israel.
Jacob Polakiewicz
Affiliation:
Tirat Carmel Medical Health Center affiliated with the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa Israel.
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to Anatoly Kreinin MD, PhD, Director of University Psychiatric Department, Tirat Carmel Mental Health Center, PO Box 9, Tirat Carmel 30200, Israel (e-mail: anatoly.kreinin @pstira.health.gov.il).
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Abstract

Tirat Carmel Mental Health Center was successfully evacuated in December 2010 during a ravaging forest fire in the nearby Carmel Mountains. A total of 228 patients were successfully evacuated from the center within 45 minutes. No fatalities or injuries associated with the evacuation occurred. We believe that the efficient functioning of the administrative and medical staff provides a replicable model that can contribute to the level of awareness and readiness of hospital staff members for natural and manmade disasters. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2014;0:1-5)

Keywords

evacuationforest firehospitaldisaster
Type
Report from the Field
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 8 , Issue 4 , August 2014 , pp. 288 - 292
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc. 2014 

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References

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