ISSUE NO.25 | JUNE 2020 COVID-19 EDITION HEROINES ON THE FRONT LINES PREPARING THE SAMMY OFER FORTIFIED UNDERGROUND EMERGENCY HOSPITAL INNOVATIVE COVID-19 TECHNOLOGIES HONORING RAMBAM BY AIR AND BY SEA COMING TOGETHER FOR A JOINT MISSION COMING TOGETHER FOR A JOINT MISSION Director and CEO: Successful collaboration 18 Dr. Michael Halberthal to fix faulty ventilators JUNE 2020 ISSUE # 25 State of Israel MEET THE Ministry of Health EXPERTS COMMUNITY Rambam goes digital SUPPORT to connect with 14 Published by the Department global community Showing gratitude of International Relations & for partners and Resource Development 8 friends HEROINES ON THE FRONT LINES Director of the Department of Female staff International Relations & 16 members reflect Resource Development: Dr. Esty Golan on COVID-19 FROM THE experiences GLOBAL DIRECTOR THANK YOU! Editor-in-chief: Inbar Shahaf Dr. Michael MEDICINE Halberthal talks about Senior Editor 4 COVID-19 and crisis 19 and Production: Shirley Erulkar management Writer: Liza Farachdel Special Thanks: PREPARING RAMBAM Abigail Penn, Batya Cohen, Miriam FOR COVID-19 INNOVATIONS Converting Shining a spotlight on Glueck, Oded Mayer, Eyal Shterenbach the Sammy innovative COVID-19 6 Ofer Fortified 10 technologies Photography: Underground Courtesy of Rambam Emergency Hospital Health Care Campus 32 Graphic Design and Concept: DONOR Raaya Gilboa Studio SPOTLIGHT Tel: +972-50-3211363 Meri Barer email: [email protected] www.rgdesign.co.il Letters to the Editor: HONORING [email protected] RAMBAM BY AIR SPECIAL AND BY SEA RAMBAM EVENTS Air Force and sailing INTERNATIONAL A CONVERSATION 23 club salute Rambam RELATIONS WITH ARIYE for COVID-19 work Snapshots 34 ISSUE NO.25 | JUNE 2020 BERCOVIZ 26 Rambam's Deputy COVID-19 20 Director EDITION HEROINES ON THE FRONT LINES PREPARING THE SAMMY OFER FORTIFIED UNDERGROUND EMERGENCY HOSPITAL INNOVATIVE COVID-19 TECHNOLOGIES HONORING RAMBAM BY AIR AND BY SEA COMING TOGETHER FOR A JOINT UNDER 2019 IN All written and/or published content in Rambam on Call magazine is for general MISSION INVESTIGATION NUMBERS information purposes only and is not intended or implied to be a substitute for Two physician/ professional medical advice, diagnosis and/or treatment or an endorsement Cover Photo: Rambam staff scientists share for any medical or pharmaceutical product. All advice, diagnosis and treatment member preparing to treat should be given in person by a physician and under his/her supervision. 22 their research 24 COVID-19 patients. 2 JUNE 2020 JUNE 2020 3 FRO Dear Friends, It is my pleasure to share this issue of Rambam On Call. It is not the issue we planned. Our original idea M was to dedicate the magazine to our nursing staff, marking the International Year of the Nurse and the T Midwife. Given world events, we are addressing Rambam’s new reality as we face COVID-19, and will focus H on the nurses in the next issue. E E DIRE n this issue, we share with you the logistical challenge Despite these challenges, we never stopped developing Ito prepare the Sammy Ofer Fortified Underground the campus and working to bring our plans to fruition. Emergency Hospital for COVID-19 patients. We In January, we celebrated a major milestone for express gratitude for support shown by devoted Helmsley Health Discovery Tower, marking completion C friends and partners during this time, including the of the 20-story skeletal building structure by brightly TOR Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, illuminating the building. We are working on the Eyal the Ted Arison Family Foundation, the Edmond de Ofer Heart Hospital, preparing to publish tenders Rothschild Foundation, Intel, the Eyal and Marilyn for constructing the internal infrastructure. We also Ofer Family Foundation, and many others. We tell signed an agreement with the Tannous family; their you about collaborations that came about with the donation resulted in the Heart Hospital’s first three military, various companies, and institutions like the floors being named the Badia Tannous Heart Institute. Technion – Israel Institute of Technology and the In addition, the Department of Emergency Medicine University of Haifa due to issues encountered while has been renamed as the Green-Wagner Department battling COVID-19, resulting in a burst of innovations of Emergency Medicine, honoring the generosity of in areas such as testing using a pooling method, longtime supporters Daphne Wagner and David Green, outbreak tracking, staff protection, and patient care. President of Canadian Friends of Rambam. We talk about using social media to connect with the In other news, we received top marks from the Ministry public through webinars, training videos, and online of Health for our Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, the fundraisers. And of course, we also highlight several Cheryl Spencer Pediatric Emergency Department, of the amazing women on our staff. and infection prevention. In addition, our physicians During the past six months, we spent time and effort and researchers continue to be recognized at the on crisis management. In November 2019, a pipe international level for their research and innovations. ruptured in the sprinkler system on the seventh floor AS WE adaPT TO OUR NEW ROUTINE WITH of the Sammy Ofer Tower, resulting in 150,000 liters COVID-19, OUR WORK IS MORE COMPLEX. WE of water cascading down to lower floors within 40 ARE PROVIDING THE BEST POSSIBLE CARE minutes. It was inspiring to see the staff quickly rush FOR OUR PATIENTS, WHILE AT THE SAME TIME, forward and return the hospital to its normal state VIGILANTLY KEEPING waTCH FOR A SECOND within hours. waVE of THE CORONAVIRUS. We confronted our second major crisis in February, with Throughout everything, I have always felt that there are the revelation that expired medication was allegedly phenomenal people by my side and we are all working dispensed by the pharmacy in 2016. This crisis was together – our teams here at Rambam and our friends FROM THE one of Rambam’s most challenging, breaching the and supporters around the world. I feel privileged to be trust and confidence of our patients and staff. The a part of such a unique community, one that embodies Director process is under investigation, and while we still don’t compassion, coexistence, professionalism, and so know the full extent of what happened, we have taken DR. MICHAEL much more. responsibility and worked to repair relationships – both HALBERTHAL among the staff and between the staff and patients. While still recovering from the pharmaceutical crisis, Sincerely, COVID-19 reached our shores, and Israel’s Ministry of Health requested that we prepare designated COVID-19 Departments. Everyone rallied together to ensure the readiness of the facilities, which were staffed by doctors, nurses, and others who volunteered Dr. Michael Halberthal to do so. One unfortunate side-effect has been the Director and CEO cancellation of events around the world, including the Rambam Health Care Campus 2020 Rambam Summit. While no one can say what the future holds, we very much look forward to welcoming you to the 2021 Summit. 4 JUNE 2020 JUNE 2020 5 Preparations and Logistical everyone into personal protective equipment (PPE) WHEN THE DANGER COMES at the same time as well as out of it. As such, a plan Considerations was formulated that explains how and where people The plan called for the hospital to be located on the -3 enter and exit, and how shifts change,” says Moskovitz, FROM WITHIN – CONVERTING level – a level with its own separate air conditioning adding, “every two-and-a-half hours, the shift has to and filtering systems. Prior to beginning the actual change, because it’s impossible to be in the PPE for conversion, Rambam’s administration and the longer.” Operations Department had to understand the logistics THE SAMMY OFER FORTIFIED of taking an underground facility designed for use Another aspect of preparation involved staff training. as a clean area protected from the dangers outside To that end, a simulated coronavirus department was UNDERGROUND EMERGENCY and repurposing it to do the opposite – protect the created to help prepare nurses and doctors to work area outside from the contamination within, ensuring in this type of environment. In addition, in the event smoothly-run operations that would also keep the staff that there will be many patients requiring ventilators, Rambam employees who studied medical technology HOSPITAL INTO A COVID-19 safe and healthy. were trained in ventilator operation. During the design stage, the team considered issues TREATMENT FACILITY like separation between clean and contaminated areas, Working Underground removal of contaminated air, camera placement, and A process for receiving patients was also established, more. Relying on hundreds of employees, including Under normal circumstances, the Sammy Ofer Fortified Underground Emergency Hospital is used as a beginning at a designated triage site located just soldiers from the Israel Defense Forces’ Home Front outside the perimeter of Rambam. Decisions will be three-level parking garage. As COVID-19 reached Israel, the Ministry of Health requested plans for its Command, an infrastructure was created to support taken at the triage site as to whether ambulances will conversion into a 900-bed coronavirus facility, including 300 beds for patients requiring ventilators. all anticipated medical, electrical, and communications either be directed to the Green-Wagner Department needs. The plan presented a series of challenges. “We built the Sammy Ofer Fortified Underground Emergency of Emergency Medicine, or, if COVID-19 is suspected, Hospital for times of war, and as such, it was designed to provide shelter against missiles and chemical A great deal of equipment and supplies also needed to to the -1 level in the underground hospital where tests be purchased. The facility was built on the premise that will be performed. Patients requiring hospitalization warfare – not viruses,” explains Kobi Moskovitz, Director of Operations for Emergency Situations at when Rambam found itself facing the threat of war, all will be transferred to -3.