JERUSALEM — An Israeli-run cholera clinic in Haiti funded by the Toronto Jewish community is stepping up its operations.

A member of the IsraAID medical team stands among patients outside the clinic.     [Shachar Zahavi photo]

Since it opened in September, the cholera clinic in Leogane, Haiti, has served primarily as an educational outreach facility, training physicians and community members on how to identify, treat and reduce the spread of the disease, which has claimed 1,250 lives and seen the admission of more than 20,000 patients to hospital since the earthquake in January.

The clinic is operated by the Israeli NGO Tevel B’Tzedek (The Earth – In Justice), one of 17 organizations under the umbrella of IsraAID – the Israel Forum for International Humanitarian Aid. It went into full operation last week as a patient treatment centre in time for an anticipated hike in the rate of infection, which is expected to peak in the next week or two. The facility will handle the overflow of patients from the main hospital in Leogane.

In these pictures you can see medical team. Marnina Orman, Israeli doctor, Karen Held, Canadian Doctor, Racheli Pex, Israeli nurse, working in the clinic.

“We’re proud to partner with IsraAID on this initiative and many others in which IsraAID has demonstrated its extraordinary skill, courage and compassion on behalf of hundreds of thousands whose lives have been devastated by natural disaster,” said Ted Sokolsky, president and CEO of UJA Federation of Greater Toronto, which raised $1 million to support IsraAID’s operations in Haiti.

These funds have gone to several programs run by IsraAID-affiliated NGOs, among them Fast Israeli Rescue and Search Team, which sent an emergency medical delegation to Port-au-Prince four days after the earthquake; the Negev Institute for Strategies of Peace and Development, which launched water management and agricultural production programs in Jacmal,

Haiti; the Alyn pediatric and adolescent rehabilitation centre, which sent a delegation of physiotherapists to treat children and provide training to local medical health professionals, and Herzog Hospital, which offered post-trauma counselling and treatment.

IsraAID’s operations in Haiti are typical of the organization’s multi-faceted approach to providing assistance, its founder, Shachar Zahavi, said.

“IsraAID brings together Jewish and Israeli NGOs under one roof. The idea is to harvest all aspects of know-how in order to take a holistic approach,” Zahavi said. “Our concept is to help our member organizations enhance their activities in developing countries by partnering with other member organizations.”

UJA Federation of Greater Toronto has supported several IsraAID initiatives since 2004, financing work with the Sudanese refugees in Chad, the Somali refugees in Kenya, the tsunami victims in Southeast Asia, the typhoon victims in the Philippines and Burma, and earthquake victims in Peru.

“The Toronto federation is one of our main supporters,” Zahavi said. “I am very happy about this. It’s something that connects us to the Toronto Jewish community.”

The cholera clinic also has volunteers from Toronto, with a handful of Toronto physicians joining their Israeli and Haitian colleagues at the clinic, on a rolling basis.

“Now that we have Canadians and Israelis working together in the field, under one Jewish umbrella, I’m even happier,” Zahavi said. “This is something we always aspired to.”

“We have a long-standing relationship with IsraAID because they do great work,” Sokolsky said. “They are a very effective organization in getting relief to people.”

Not only is IsraAID quick to respond to emergency situations, Sokolsky said, they are also expert strategists. If not for such strategizing, they would not have had the infrastructure in place at the clinic in time to respond to the onslaught of new cases. “Not only were they among the first on the ground in Haiti, but they are strategic. They think. They plan.”

IsraAID also focuses on long-term sustainable solutions, Sokolsky added. “While other organizations have come and gone [since the earthquake], IsraAID organizations have been able to switch from immediate to long-term relief.”

The cholera clinic is a good example. Although it’s currently being manned by Israeli and Canadian medical personnel, the focus is on training Haitian nurses, physicians and community workers, in order to ensure that the clinic will continue to operate after the foreign volunteers return home.

The hope is that once the number of cholera cases has diminished, the clinic will be transformed into a non-emergency family medical clinic that will house medical personnel with different specialties. such as optometrists, gynecologists and dentists, to serve the population of Leogane and the surrounding communities.

Another key reason for the partnership between the federation and IsraAID is the positive image that IsraAID projects of Israel, Sokolsky said. “We like IsraAID, because it has the double impact of doing excellent work and providing a face for Israeli citizenry in foreign countries. It’s important for people to get an accurate picture of the average Israeli, as the portrayal in the media is not always so accurate.”

He pointed to another advantage in the partnership: it represents a new chapter in the philanthropic relationship between Israel and the Diaspora. “Here we are funding an NGO in Israel to do its work in communities outside of Israel. Instead of sending aid to Israel, we are partnering with Israelis to serve the entire world,” Sokolsky said.

“IsraAID demonstrates the true meaning of tikun olam, creating a better world by saving so many lives through remarkable acts of kindness.”