Transport was facilitated by Magen David Adom and New York–based Hatzolah Air.
When an apartment building in Kyiv was hit by a missile on Saturday, February 26, Irina Karaush, 44, and her 19-year-old son, Mark, were injured. They received initial treatment from a local hospital but suffered complex injuries to their limbs. Max Karaush, 44, suffered a moderate knee injury. Only 10-year-old Georgi made it through with no physical injuries.
Nachman Dickstein, a volunteer with Magen David Adom (MDA) living in Kyiv, learned about Irina’s and Mark’s complicated injuries that require surgery, and contacted his colleagues back in Israel to help bring them there for continued medical care.
Magen David Adom, Israel’s national paramedic and Red Cross service, contacted Hatzolah Air, a New York–based volunteer rescue organization that flies people in need to specific medical treatment. Hatzolah Air’s representative in Israel, MDA paramedic Aharon Adler, arranged for a private plane that departed from New York to the Romanian-Moldova border and from there to Ben-Gurion Airport in Israel.
The jet was loaded with seven tons of medical supplies, food, and other humanitarian goods for Ukrainian refugees on the Moldova-Ukraine border.
The plane arrived in Israel Monday morning, carrying the whole family. Two awaiting MDA Mobile Intensive Care Units evacuated the family to Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital.
“As soon as we were informed of the medical condition of the Karaush family, who were hit by a direct missile in their home, we contacted Eli Rowe, president and founder of the Hatzolah Air, a longtime partner,” said Eli Bin, MDA’s director-general.
“As a Red Cross affiliate, we’re working to help refugees and the wounded as much as possible in various ways, and this is how we will continue to act,” said Bin.
Some of those ways include sending Russian- and Ukrainian-speaking paramedics to Poland to treat injured Ukrainians at the border and establishing a training center for doctors and medical students in Ukraine to provide medical and humanitarian aid on the ground.
Additionally, a special hotline to assist Ukrainian refugees who arrive in Israel has been established. Nearly 3,000 have already arrived — most of them not Jewish.
The hotline is staffed by Russian- and Ukrainian-speaking volunteers in MDA’s National Command Center in Kiryat Ono and is operated jointly with the International Red Cross. Volunteers are providing assistance regarding medical needs, and navigation and coordination among the various service and governmental agencies.
