Medical Task Force
Chairs: Dr. Ed Goodman and Dr. Sandy Bidner, Central Area Consortium Dr. Norman Loberant, Western Galilee Hospital
Visits to WGH
July 2007 –December 2007
There continue to be many visitors from the Central Area Consortium. [Since the Second War in Lebanon, the hospital has hosted thousands of visitors from North America, Europe and Asia.]
(Emergency Response Group) Course History
Since October 2002:
· Seven courses
· 117 course seats for 85 participants + 5 US federation staff
· 15 Jewish Federations from 20 U.S. cities
· 48 specialties + psychologists, nurses, medics, hospital
administrators, respiration therapist, trauma coordinator, PA, podiatrists, a medical student and a resident
ERG 7 in October 2007: 20 participants, 16 specialties, from 8 Central Area Consortium federations plus 3 non-Consortium
ERG 8, December 4-12, 2008:
· Plan your recruitment meetings so that all applications will be in Israel by October 2008. We have a new mogul on the trail. We must have all medical documents translated to Hebrew.
· Dr. Richard Schuster, Director of The Center for Global Health Systems, Management, & Policy of the Boonshoft School of Medicine, Wright State University, Dayton, will assist in gaining approval for Category I CMEs for ERG VIII.
ERG Program updates and ERG VII evaluation highlights:
We found the additional night in Jerusalem and traveling to WGH early Sunday was to everyone’s liking, so it will be continued.
The Pittsburgh-Karmiel/Misgav Partnership 2000 will actively recruit doctors for ERG VIII and their Partnership will provide a $1000/participant subsidy.
Quotable Comments from ERG VII Evaluations:
· Home dinner excellent
· Home hospitality dinner – excellent. Hospital hospitality was wonderful – enjoyed the camaraderie and intellectual exchange.
· Excellent. Wonderful time with our Israeli counterparts. Most friendly and warm. Entire staff was superior, friendly and very cooperative.
· Simply outstanding in all respects. You outdid yourselves!
· My thoughts are extremely positive. I enjoyed and learned a “new dimension” of Israel. Having traveled extensively throughout Israel since 1982, I continually see progressive and positive change. Israelis have a respect for human life, and not just for her own citizens. Furthermore, there are intense efforts toward understanding the conflict and preparing for preservation of human life. This program is indeed life changing. We are very fortunate.
· No specific suggestions. Darn good work!! Impressive. See you next year.
· Excellent experience, which reflected on what I am sure was a tremendous amount of pre-planning. Thank you!
· I was very impressed with the entire experience.
· This is my first time at an ERG course and I have nothing to add to it. It was above my expectations. The staff and people were very caring and helpful at every turn. The food and accommodations were excellent.
· See you next year! My only recommendation is to have an afternoon off for shopping.
· All facilities were first rate.
· Excellent job! Your hospitality is unparalleled! The generosity of the presenters was genuinely exceptional!
ERG VII evaluation summary:
The ERG Course has matured in the eyes of the participants, receiving honest, sometimes critical evaluations. ERG VIII’s evaluation responses [0 = poor, 5 = excellent] can be summarized as:
1. Graded on performance more than emotion [in the past many checked “5” or “excellent” box for each question]
2. Overall rating & meeting of expectations 4.7; provided usable ideas 4.8
3. Lectures, both in-house and outside, averaged 4.86
4. Mini-mass casualty drill (4.2) & time spent in clinical departments 4.6; both received concrete criticisms that the committee will address the issues when planning ERG8
5. 20% on first trip to Israel (higher than in the past)
6. 66% physicians
7. pre-course Shabbat in Jerusalem 4.7; IDF border tour 4.8; Magen David Adom 4.5; Ghetto Fighters’ House 4.7; after-hours restaurant 3.6 - will choose a new venue
We appreciate the candor of the ERG VII responders and will strive to improve for ERG VIII.
MedPEP - Medical Personnel Exchange Program History
· 35 WGH: administrators, physicians, nurses and technicians have participated in working visits to Consortium communities
· Visits require a professional host with Federation staff support.
· Visits are for up to 3 weeks (generally, not to exceed 4 weeks)
Professionals from the WGH interested in placements in a Consortium community during the coming year as part of the Medical Personnel Exchange Program:
1. ishai Falik MD, Outstanding Resident’s Reward Trip; ophthalmology
2. Ms. Ruti Ifrach, Head Administrator: US hospital administration
3. Arie Eisenman MD, Director Internal Medicine in ER: New methods of emergency medicine
4. Vered Fleisher-Shefer MD, Senior Physician, Neonatal Department: New methods in neonatology
5. Mordechai Ben-Elisha MD, Senior Physician, Neonatal Department: New methods in neonatology
6. Sohil Nasrallah MD, Senior Physician in Oncology: Chemotherapy, exchange of knowledge, state of the art in telemedicine, and video conferencing
7. Judy Chezar PhD, Director of Blood Bank: FLOW CYTOMETRY
8. Moshe Goldfeld, MD: since our hospital may soon acquire MRI
9. Nicola Makhoul, MD, Head of the Respiratory ICU: for a month
10. Pesach Pasko, Assistant Chief Radiology Technion: for 7-10 days observation in CT, MRI, radiology
WGH Welcomes Medical Students for Externship Program
Program Criteria in cooperation and with vetting by Federation and medical school:
· Open to Medical Students who are originally from our Partnership region
· Medical Students who study in any city belonging to the Partnership region
· Minimum of three participants
· Four weeks of learning in the hospital, according to level of study and interest
All departments welcome volunteer medical personnel.