By Esther Korson
It’s known that Israel is an innovative nation, and so many wonderful things have been invented here in so many fields. Something happened last week that totally amazed me once again.
Picture this: You drive one day to visit someone at Rambam hospital in Haifa and park your car in their huge underground parking garage. You leave at the end of the day—but when you return 48 hours later, that very same parking lot has been transformed—in only 48 hours—into a fully operational hospital! It would amaze me, that’s for sure!
This week Rambam conducted a practice drill which converted the parking lot into a giant emergency room! It would be assembled quickly during a national emergency if the North were to come under fire in a future conflict. The need for a fortified complex emerged during the 2006 war with Hezbollah militia in Lebanon where thousands of rockets were fired into Northern Israel. Rambam was the leading treatment facility in the area and also the treatment facility for the wounded soldiers coming from the fierce battles in Lebanon. The hospital was truly saving lives but they realized at the same time that they were also vulnerable to loss of life due to the danger of missile attacks on the hospital facility itself.
The idea for the underground hospital was adapted from Singapore. (They have one already but on a much smaller scale). Since a large hospital parking area was also needed, the decision was made to build a huge car park that during times of national emergency could be converted into the biggest underground hospital in the world; thereby keeping staff and patients safe dozens of meters below ground even if missiles and rockets are falling above ground. In this way, thousands of patients could receive normal care even during abnormal times. It is also designed to be safe from chemical or biological weapons.
To support the massive building, a five acre pit was dug 60 feet deep. The pouring of the foundations began in October 2010 where for 36 hours straight over 100 cement mixers ferried concrete to the site, making it the biggest project of its kind in Northern Israel. The underground complex was completed in 2012. Into the walls and the floors of the facility are power outlets, connections for medical equipment, air conditioners and heaters, water, sewage and filtration systems, and everything else needed to move emergency hospital operations underground in 48 hours—72 hours to be fully operational as a hospital. So even though it looks like a parking lot, the entire infrastructure is there, everything needed to quickly and efficiently move the hospital down to the basement garage.
Hospital officials confirmed that they need about 72 hours to convert the car park into a fully operational medical facility including dialysis, oncology, maternity wards, and operating theaters. It was amazing to watch the drill on TV. Toilets were installed within minutes, all kinds of medical equipment was brought down, plugged in or hooked up. And, within the 48 time period, it was truly a functioning hospital! It was impressive, to say the least!
Professor Rafael Bryar, General Director and Chief Executive Officer said on the day of the drill, “We’re moving today two departments, intensive care plus other facilities like operating rooms. We’re planning to be able to move from the main hospital to this one within 48 hours, but the full capacity will require up to 72 hours to actually establish all the systems here for treating our patients”. Dr. Yaron Ben-Lavie, Critical Care Division at Rambam said, “We have all the equipment needed to do full scale intensive care including ventilation, monitors, pumps, machinery, dialysis equipment, computers—everything needed to do our regular tasks of intensive care.”
On that day, the medical staff practiced the rather ambitious and unusual emergency drill to simulate what it would be like to bring several hundred patients downstairs inside a car park three floors underground. This concept of such a large, 2000 bed fortified facility doesn’t exist anywhere else in the world.
The project also has aspects for peace, research and hope above ground as well. Four new buildings are being built over it: a new children’s hospital; a new hospital for the treatment of cardio-vascular disease; a new cancer hospital; and a new research tower where the world’s most preeminent researchers will have the world’s most sophisticated facilities to find drugs and treatment for various diseases.
Sammy Ofer, the self-made Israeli multi-millionaire, who laid the cornerstone for the building in 2008, donated nearly twenty million dollars to build the underground hospital. (He passed away in 2011). Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav said about him, “Not everyone can take good intentions and turn them into reality, but Sammy did. I hope we will never have to use this facility…” (Information from IBA News, Jerusalem Post, Start-Up Israel)
The underground hospital was conceived and built once again because of the value for human life which is such a core part of Judaism. Hopefully it never will have to be used, as Mayor Yahav said so poignantly. But realistically, it will be incredibly life-saving if, after Israel deals with Iran’s nuclear ambitions, Iran’s Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah, decides to bombard Israel with rockets in retaliation. Then the underground hospital would be lifesaving in every way. (I would guess that it was no mistake that drills are being held in the hospital now).
That’s it for today!
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