Injured children from Gaza arrive in Bay Area to get medical treatment
They came to the Bay Area to receive medical treatment for injuries sustained during the conflict. HEAL Palestine is the nonprofit group that helped facilitate the trip.
Their mission is to help wounded children get out of Gaza and into hospitals across the US.
It was an emotional and exciting welcome for the children and their families, greeted by volunteers and also the doctors who helped coordinate their treatment, like Dr. Mohammad Subeh.
"Our goal is to provide them with the best care we can to give them the best opportunity at healing," Subeh said.
He's an emergency room doctor in the South Bay and went to Gaza twice in the past few years as a health care volunteer. That's where he met 6-year-old Ghazal, 8-year-old Anas, and 14-year-old Leyan.
"I haven't seen them for almost a year, and so this is a big reunion for me personally, not as their doctor but like as a very close friend," said Dr.Subeh.
All three children were injured in separate bombings in Gaza. Ghazal and Anas both sustained traumatic leg injuries, and Leyan dealing with severe burns and shrapnel embedded in her foot and leg.
"Some of them have orthopedic injuries that really require multiple complex surgeries, rehabilitation, and as you can imagine with the annihilation of the health care infrastructure in Gaza, this is not possible. We cannot do this on the ground in Gaza," said Dr. Subeh.
"The number of children currently in Gaza that need significant medical care is in the tens of thousands. So, it is absolutely not something that the health care system there can accommodate," said Talha Baqar with HEAL Palestine.
The group helps children and their immediate family members were able to come to the US on medical visas. They find private donors to pay all the medical bills, plus host families who can offer places to stay near the hospitals. The first issue that will be addressed for all the kids is their malnutrition.
"We have nutritionists and various other specialists on board to see how we can really give them the best chance at maximizing this treatment," said Dr. Subeh.
In addition, the children will receive dental care and mental health services, plus will also have some much-needed downtime to just enjoy being kids.
"All of them and all of their family members have never seen the world outside of Gaza, which is 2/3rds the size of the city of San Jose," said Dr. Subeh.
The three children will all be treated at different hospitals. One will go to El Camino Hospital in Los Gatos, one to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose, and another to Kaiser Oakland. Once their medical treatments are complete here in the US, HEAL Palestine will get them to Egypt, where they'll help them with housing and education.
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