Portrait of a Palestinian hospital
TERRY JEAN RATNER
Special to Jewish News
Few nurses choose travel destinations under siege. Lynn Gras, RNC, BSN is the exception. She recently spent six weeks in the Middle East, teaching a neonatal program to other nurses and medical staff in Palestinian-controlled areas in Israel. Her specialty areas are emergency room and neonatal intensive care.
In March 2002, Gras brought her nursing skills to Ramallah at Ramallah Government Hospital's neonatal unit. According to Gras, "The nurses at the 200-bed facility exhibited high levels of nursing care with basically no equipment. They were competent, independent and able to intubate their neonatal patients with ease during emergency situations."
Equipment problems plag-ued the units. Many of the physicians in Ramallah are unable to go outside the city for training due to financial and travel restrictions.
Gras remembers one physician who worked 10 years in Oklahoma and then returned to Palestinian-controlled areas to assist his people.
He told her, "Never in my life did I ever think I'd have to walk the mountains for three hours in order to work, carrying nothing, because I might look suspicious - and they will shoot me. Neutral people, like myself, are being driven to fanaticism because of oppression."
City under siege
Gras knows too well about closures, settlements, and checkpoints.
While the soldiers stand watch, the Palestinians wait in the rain, cold, or heat for hours in order to cross from one village to another. "Lots of babies are born there because the soldiers won't believe the women who say they're in labor."
In describing Ramallah, Gras tells of a city reduced to shattered glass, bullet-ridden buildings, human stench, and people in need of medical assistance.
Gras says, "There were wounded everywhere and the ambulances were unable to get into the city." Ambulances weren't able to assist the wounded, dialysis dependent, diabetic, or labor patients, she notes.
When asked why she risks her life, Gras replies, "I can come and go. These people can't. If I can make their lives better and enable them to care for their kids - I will do it."
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