Transport facilitated by Magen David Adom and New York–based Hatzolah Air
Lod, Israel (March 7, 2022)—When an apartment building in Kyiv was hit by a missile on Saturday, Feb. 26, Irina Karaush, 44, and her 19-year-old son, Mark, were injured. They received initial treatment from a local hospital, but suffered complex injuries to their limbs.
When Nachman Dickstein, a volunteer with Magen David Adom (MDA) living in Kyiv, learned about their complicated injuries, he contacted his colleagues in Israel to help bring them there for continued medical care.
Magen David Adom, Israel’s national paramedic and Red Cross service, contacted Hatzolah Air, a New York–based volunteer rescue organization that flies people in need to specific medical treatment. Hatzolah Air’s representative in Israel, MDA paramedic Aharon Adler, arranged for a private plane that departed from New York to the Romanian-Moldova border and from there to Ben-Gurion Airport in Israel.
The jet was loaded with seven tons of medical supplies, food, and other humanitarian goods for Ukrainian refugees on the Moldova-Ukraine border.
The plane arrived in Israel Monday, March 7, with the entire family, including Irina’s husband, Max, 44, and other son, Georgi, 10. Two awaiting MDA Mobile Intensive Care Units evacuated Irina and Mark to Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital.
“As soon as we were informed of the medical condition of the Karaush family, who were hit by a direct missile in their home, we contacted Eli Rowe, president and founder of the Hatzolah Air, a longtime partner,” says Eli Bin, MDA’s director-general.
“As a Red Cross affiliate, we’re working to help refugees and the wounded as much as possible in various ways, and this is how we will continue to act,” says Bin.
One of those ways includes a special hotline center to assist Ukrainian refugees who arrive in Israel. Nearly 3,000 have already arrived—most of them not Jewish.