Helping Without Limits – One Physician’s Post-Earthquake Experience in Syria
Hazem Al-Hnawi, MD, on the ground in Syria.
"It’s never happened before that you could switch eight shifts that quickly, but within two hours, all of my shifts were taken care of. That's how helpful this team is."
“Where are the doctors?”
When Hazem Al-Hnawi, MD, saw videos of the survivors of the earthquakes that devastated Turkey and Syria in February, that one question they asked stuck with him.
While multiple relief efforts, such as fundraisers and requests for food, clothes and supplies, were underway around the world in the days and weeks following the earthquakes, Hazem, an attending physician in the Cincinnati Children’s Department of Hospital Medicine, felt that he needed to do more—that he needed to provide medical assistance firsthand. He needed to go to Syria.
Hazem, who grew up in Aleppo in northern Syria, contacted the Syrian America Medical Society (SAMS), a global medical relief organization that works on the front lines of crisis relief in Syria, and applied to go with one of their groups. Although Hazem wanted to go as soon as possible, it was another three weeks before the area was ready to take outside help. When he did get the call, though, he realized that he had to get eight shifts covered on short notice.
“Here's the beautiful thing about Cincinnati Children’s,” said Hazem. “I contacted my supervisor, Michelle Parker, MD, about the situation, and she said to send an email to the Hospital Medicine team to see if anyone would be willing to swap. It’s never happened before that you could switch eight shifts that quickly, but within two hours, all of my shifts were taken care of. That's how helpful this team is.”
Hazem had also asked if anyone would like to donate winter clothing and coats to a local church group that was collecting them for the people in Syria who had lost everything and were dealing with cold weather there. And within a few days, the donations filled an entire room at the Liberty Campus—so many that Hazem had trouble fitting everything in his car to take to the church.
On the Ground in Syria
On February 25, Hazem and a team of 12 other doctors from around the United States landed in Turkey, but it took two days before they could get permission to travel into northern Syria. The first thing Hazem noticed were mountains of rubble from crumbled buildings, dotted with tents where survivors were living. Thick pollution in the air combined with noxious diesel fumes from cars and the excavators, trucks, and other heavy equipment being used to clear the massive amounts of debris.
Hazem also encountered a lot of injuries that he doesn’t often see in his day-to-day work as a pediatrician in the U.S., including crushed limbs, and brain infections from bacteria entering through cracks in children’s skulls.
Hazem first worked in a very small rural hospital, but then went to a hospital for children and women that was focused on delivery and newborn care. He helped the physicians there by doing rounds and by providing consults about meningitis and unique bacteria and what to use to treat them. In the seven days he was working there, Hazem was seeing 40-50 patients per day.
On his last day there, Hazem spent time working with the young residents to teach them how to take patient histories and other basic skills. In the midst of non-stop treatment, the doctors were grateful that someone was taking the time to provide some education.
While Hazem certainly made an impact during his time there, he feels that he received more than he gave. “It humbles you,” he said. “It makes you appreciate every day that you wake up and have water, food, electricity, and family around you. In 45 seconds, the earthquake took everything from them. Imagine running down your stairs in total darkness at 4 am in cold, freezing weather with pipes bursting and water falling on you—you hear the walls cracking and people screaming. It was the scariest thing these people have ever been through.”
Hazem told the story of one family that was living in a makeshift shelter among the rubble. When an ambulance was finally able to get to them and the parents started placing the children in the vehicle, the children cried and clamored for their jackets—the only possessions they had left in the world—which were unfortunately too damaged and dirty to take with them to the hospital.
Syrian residents whose homes were still standing resorted to using pistachio shells as fuel for their home heaters amidst freezing temperatures.
The remnants of a pharmacy are all that's left following the 7.8 magnitude earthquake.
Of Patients and Patience
“Because of the gap in knowledge when talking to most villagers there, you have to have a lot of patience,” said Hazem. “Some of the parents became combative, saying things like, ‘Why are you doing this to my son?’ So I learned to have more empathy—to feel what they're feeling. In Syria, you had to explain to parents what the next steps are so they will come back when their child needs more treatment. So I spend more time now making sure not only that my patients’ medical plans are fulfilled, but that their parents are on the same page, that they're comfortable, and that they know not only the next step, but the next two steps forward. And I make sure that the inpatient and outpatient plan is secure. I do a lot of follow-up calls, especially for kids who I feel may slide backward. I feel like I give more time to people and get less frustrated now because I saw what can happen to your life and your family in only 45 seconds.”
When people asked him why he felt driven to go to Syria as opposed to help from afar with donations, Hazem said that he wouldn’t have been able to sleep at night knowing that he could do something, but didn’t, adding, “I like to help without limits.”
“I returned a better person, I think,” said Hazem. “You can feed your body food, and you can feed your brain knowledge, but you also have to feed your soul. And you can't feed it by being greedy and selfish. You have to give. You have to help. Holding someone’s hands and helping a little bit, putting a smile on the faces of kids who lost their families and are suffering and in pain, elevates you. You learn that people are people when they're in need, and I felt like I had a duty to humanity to give back.”
And Hazem is quick to recognize how his coworkers helped him fulfill that duty. “With my colleagues in Hospital Medicine, I saw how much they gave in a short time without hesitation. So, people are good. You just have to look for it. Had I not sent that email, I would not know how much good is in this organization. One email showed me the bright side of everybody.”
Although Hazem wanted to go to Syria as soon as possible, it was another three weeks before the area was ready to take outside help.
A family that was living in the rubble attempted to recover their coats before being put into an ambulance, but the children’s jackets were left behind.