Long Beach, NY, October 28, 2013…. Elizabeth Lebowitz, a school nurse at Long Beach High School tells it like it is. “We couldn’t have done it without Refuah.” She is referring to the fully staffed Mobile Medical Unit that the Refuah Health Center sent soon after Hurricane Sandy, and is still there. “Refuah’s doctors are always there for our students, their families as well as the school’s staff, it’s the gift that keeps on giving” she said. Elizabeth listed, “first aid, annual physicals and vaccinations” among the most pressing medical services the mobile medical unit provides.

The fact that Long Beach hospital has not reopened since the hurricane is not the only factor contributing to the shortage of medical practitioners. According to Dr. Fishkind, a Pediatrician from the Refuah Health Center, “Many doctors moved away because of the storm and never came back. There were always doctors who were only here for the summer but they also never came back,” he added.

Another doctor on the mobile medical unit, Dr. Manisha Rayavarpu confirmed the human toll on the community. Dr Rayavarpu is from Long Beach and although her family home was intact, her patients relay heart wrenching stories of the loss of their homes. “Many,” she was told “are still living in tents or with family.”

Mrs. Chanie Sternberg, President and CEO of Refuah Health Center sees the deployment to Long Beach and other parts of Brooklyn and Queens as a continuation of Refuah’s ongoing role. “Refuah has a tradition of compassionate care so providing medical services to the residents of Long Beach in their time of need, was and continues to be an extension of what we are all about.”

Having a fleet of fully loaded Medical Mobile Units was also a life saver for Refuah Health Center during the early days of the storm. Located in Rockland County, New York, Refuah has three health care facilities. Two in Spring Valley and one in South Fallsburg, which is in Sullivan County.

Medical teams working out of the Mobile Medical Units were able to provide for the health care needs of the community while power at Refuah’s own facilities were down. No sooner had power been restored than a call came from the New York State Department of Health to deploy three of their Mobile Medical Units to some of the hardest hit areas of Brooklyn and Queens. These were the first medical facilities to reach the disaster area.

Soon afterwards a Refuah Mobile Medical Unit was sent to Long Beach, New York where it remains at the Ice Arena parking lot on West bay Drive.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)