On December 2009, Haiti was devastated by an earthquake that pummeled an already fragile nation. Millions of lives were uprooted; hundreds of thousands died and hundreds of thousands were injured. Haiti was a scene right out of a grade B Hollywood disaster movie, only this disaster was real! Less than 48 hours after the earthquake, an Israeli Military field hospital, led by Col Itzk  Kriess, from Sheba Medical Center, had already left Israel and was established in Haiti to care for the injured. In fact, it was for nearly ten days the only Western medical facility fully operational and healing those Haitians who were in terrible need of medical support: births, broken limbs, head injuries and other trauma care.

The U.S. field hospital was sending patients to the Sheba-led facility for nearly a week, because they were not set up.  World media reported on the miracles of healing taking place at Israel’s medical outpost in Haiti. The compassion of the Israel medical facility extended to what has become part of the Clinton Global Initiative, which now support a Sheba rehabilitation center led by Dr. Ziv-Ner in Haiti to secure, fit and train Haitians in the use of prosthetics.  Sheba is also using its own technology to manufacture functional prosthetics in Haiti to provide local access to those who have lost limbs.

Today, Sheba has continued the Israeli commitment to heal the many in Haiti still in trauma two years later. The Sheba Rehab facility in Port-au-Prince led by Dr. Ziv-Ner is a major source of care that is literally putting people on their feet. And, tens of Haitians have been sent to Sheba for major medical care like heart operations and cancer treatment.  This is the “Sheba spirit.”