ICU nurse describes experience working in Gaza at U. event

On Monday, Palestine Children's Relief Fund (PCRF) and United Mission for Relief & Development (UMR) collaboratively hosted a "Gather 4 Gaza" event at Trayes Hall on the College Avenue campus, in which Zahed Rahman, an ICU nurse, spoke about his experience in Gaza.

On a "medical mission," Rahman said he worked in Gaza for two weeks in March with six physicians and three critical care nurses. The group traveled with an organization called the Palestinian American Medical Associates (PAMA).

Rahman explained the preparations and multi-level security clearance processes for entering Gaza. He had to sign a waiver to be approved, where he specifically asked the audience to focus on the "acknowledgement assumption of risk." The clause explained that Rahman could potentially be exposed to bodily injury or death, psychological trauma, diseases, terrorism, kidnapping and more.

"It also continues to say that if I get injured, there may not be any treatment, or medicine or the possibility of evacuation, and that I was taking a risk knowing that hospitals and healthcare workers are being attacked."

Rahman also said that the team packed medical supplies to take with them, including antibiotics, surgical tools and incubators. Once the team flew into Cairo, they had to go to the World Health Organization Branch to receive guidelines that any movement needed to be communicated, and the place of work had to be made clear of conflict.

"Should be deconflicted," he said. "There's no guarantee … and we all know there's nothing deconflicted about who needs a home in Gaza."

Rahman continued to describe the journey into Rafah, which he said should have taken 4 or 5 hours but instead took 18 hours due to security checks and delays.

During the drive, Rahman said they saw hundreds of trucks parked on the sides of the highway, possibly holding food and medical aid stuck in transit. Rahman's delegation was able to bring in their supplies because they were part of a mission group.

Rahman continued to talk about the hospital he practiced in, where the campus was the hospital itself, a nursing school and two residence halls that housed thousands of displaced and lost family members.

"We took care of patients in the ICU, we took care of patients in the ER, we took care of all sorts of injuries, but one of the things we could never do was really, really affect their sense of loneliness and despair."

Rahman said that the doctors, residents and nurses were dedicated to coming to work every day and finding innovative ways to provide care even when resources were unavailable and physicians had not been paid and were living in tents.

Rahman then talked about a 14-year-old boy he met in the ICU who was pushing a portable X-ray machine for a patient who was incubated, fulfilling the job of a worker who had died.

He mentioned another 10-year-old girl he met during an organization event on campus, where he found out that she had lost her entire family just days before. He said the girl hoped to be a doctor, and he wanted to bring her back to the United States to make that happen.

Rahman restated her response, saying, "Why would I leave? This is my country ... My family, they're all Shahid, they're all martyrs, the highest status in Islam you can get ... Whether I'm going to be a doctor or not, Allah knows best."

Rahman continued to discuss the difficulty of being a healthcare provider in a warzone, displaying several on-ground photos and videos.

"The hardest part of trying to be a healthcare provider is to do it when there are zero chances of success," Rahman said. "We're designed to help save lives, but when they show up already dead and martyred, it's definitely not possible. Or, when they show up with their guts exposed, it's not possible. Or, when they show up with an open skull injury where part of, or the entire brain is missing."

Rahman said that due to indirect and direct deaths, the actual number of deaths could be three to 15 times more than the reported number of approximately 40,000, according to the medical journal Lancet.

To end the discussion, Rahman encouraged the audience to put their "time" or "wealth" into educating themselves and becoming politically involved.

"If you want change, and you do nothing about it, then you can't say anything to anyone when the results are not in your favor, because you didn't try," he said.

Editor's note: This article has been updated to correct the organization's name, United Mission for Relief & Development (UMR).