Sheba's Colonel Dr. Itzik Kreiss Commands the Israeli Field Hospital in Haiti

Col. Dr. Itzik Kreiss of Sheba, Commander of the Israel Defense Forces field hospital in Haiti, helps a patient with a broken leg into the Israeli ER.

Photo credit: IDF Spokesman's Office.

Colonel Dr. Itzik Kreiss of the Israel Defense Forces has been appointed commander of the Israeli emergency relief field hospital in Haiti. Dr. Kreiss is an internal medicine specialist who trained at the Sheba Medical Center. He is on the fast track to becoming the next IDF Surgeon General, while continuing to carry out a series of senior administrative duties at Sheba.

Kreiss commands Israel's 250-person medical rescue team in Haiti, which includes five other Sheba medical personnel: exotic diseases expert Prof. Eli Schwartz; anesthesiologist Dr. George Kurakin; primary medicine expert Dr. Adar Marom; epidemiologist Dr. Kobi Peleg; and registered nurse Maya Golan.

Colonel Kreiss walks in the shadow of many previous Sheba Medical Center doctors who also were senior commanders of the IDF medical corps. This includes the past director of Sheba, Col. (res.) Prof. Bolek Goldman; the current director of the Sheba general hospital, Col. (res.) Dr. Ari Shamiss (who was Surgeon General of the Israel Air Force); Shamiss' current deputy, Lt. Col. (res.) Dr. Arnon Afek; the current Surgeon General of the IDF, Brig. Gen. Dr. Nahman Ash; Col. (res.) Dr. Ariel Horowitz of the Sheba gynecology department, and many others.

The Sheba Medical Center is closely tied to and integrated with the Israel Defense Forces. Many IDF medical personnel train at Sheba; most IDF medical field teams train at Sheba's Israel Center for Medical Simulation; and the hospital is the main treatment and rehabilitation facility for IDF wounded.

According to news reports, the Israeli field hospital in the earthquake-stricken Haitian capital has been working day and night to save lives. More than 100 survivors have been treated, with three in 10 in serious condition and 50 percent moderately injured. Children comprise more than half of the injured, most with limb injuries and bone fractures. Nearly a dozen lifesaving operations have been performed.

Set up in an industrial park, and staffed with 40 doctors, 40 nurses and medics, the hospital has been constantly treating patients since Saturday. Its army tents house orthopedic, emergency and surgical units. Doctors are equipped to handle pediatric and adult emergency care. There are two operating beds, X-ray facilities and a laboratory.

The Israeli doctors have even delivered a baby boy, whose mother, Gubilande Jean Michel, promptly declared would be named "Israel."