Husband's overheard message turns into 'massive medical response for Israel'

The day after a deadly terrorist attack by Hamas on Israel, Yigal Marcus was looking for a way to help.

The former Teaneck resident, who now lives in a suburb of the central Israeli city Modi'in, asked two of his brothers, who are doctors in Florida, if they would come to Israel as medical volunteers if they were needed.

Marcus’ wife, Caryn, overheard the conversation and sent out a WhatsApp message to a small group of friends asking if anyone knew medical personnel wanting to volunteer.

That message went viral and was reposted on various social media sites and message boards. Within days, Marcus, his family and a group of volunteers were fielding calls and messages from more than 5,500 licensed medical personnel from 49 countries volunteering to go to Israel.

“It was early on, literally the first hours of the war, and everyone felt helpless,” Marcus said. “When it started going around, people wanted to help.”

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The family has roots in medicine. Marcus’ sister Eliana Aaron, also a former Teaneck resident, is a nurse practitioner who founded a medical management and health advocacy company in Israel. She is working with the Ministry of Health and the Israel Medical Association to expedite temporary credentials for medical professionals with current licenses to practice.

The siblings’ father retired several years ago from the Teaneck rheumatology practice where he worked for five decades, but he sees patients at age 80.

Marcus, who moved to Israel several years ago from Teaneck for his job at an investment management firm, said where he lives the mood is tense and the streets are very quiet, but people want to help in any way they can.

“We are tense about what we think is going to come, but there is extremely high morale,” he said.

Marcus’ phone was ringing nonstop for days after his wife posted the message. On Thursday, it began to slow down, but that day, he said, he still signed up 400 more doctors and other medical personnel.

Now, Marcus, his sister, wife and children, and a team of about 30 volunteers are working through the complex process of getting these doctors emergency medical licenses to practice in Israel.

They are coordinating with medical centers that have asked to connect with the doctors and getting background information, licensing, vaccination records and other necessary documents.

“We’ve had our house full of volunteers working on this. A lot of teens are working the phones helping us to reach everyone,” Marcus said. “The energy in the room was really inspiring.”

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Once the doctors are credentialed, they will go into a database of vetted and authorized physicians. Then the group plans to help schedule flights, find places for them to stay and get them connected with a hospital.

“As hospitals around the country begin to ramp up, we’re hoping the Ministry of Health will continue to allow us to assume the burden of managing the logistics of getting these doctors to Israel,” Marcus said.

The Ministry of Health said non-medical volunteers may also be needed to work in pharmacies, provide child care for doctors and nurses, restock supplies and help relocate people in assisted living facilities.

Aaron, Marcus’ sister, was instrumental in providing the knowledge and connections through her work to quickly get the initiative going, he said.

“There’s a word in Yiddish, ‘bashert,’ which means it’s meant to be,” he said. “You never know in life why things happen. This was a total fluke. My wife overheard me and sent this message. That Sunday morning, I never thought I’d be putting together a massive medical response for Israel, but something happened that turned this into a calling.”

As medical and non-medical personnel are called up to army service and hospitals face the strain of an increase in injured patients coming through their doors, there will likely be a need for medical help as the crisis continues, Marcus said.

“The response we’ve gotten from medical centers is, ‘Today we’re OK, but we need to prepare for the system being overwhelmed,’” he said. “I’m hoping we don’t need them. I’m hoping this has been a wasted effort. But if there’s a bad-case scenario, we’re going to be prepared to make sure anyone who needs health care can get it.”

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Former Teaneck man's conversation sparks medical response for Israel