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A few words about flying patients: |
The "flying" I.C. kit includes all the necessary equipment to ensure the patient's safest and most professional transfer to his destination.
The necessary items for each flight are determined by the medical team that accompanies the patient on his way, according to his medical condition and the severity of his illness.
The unique composition of the kit makes it possible to handle almost all cases, even the most severe ones, except for those where the mere moving of the patient presents a greater risk than the possible benefit that can be derived from flying him abroad.
 All components of the kit have gone through strict compatibility tests by the airlines. In addition, most of them have an independent back-up system, in case of a power drop in the plane.
The organization has a number of mobile I.C. kits, that make it possible to fly a few patients at once. The equipment is suitable for all ages, from newborns to the elderly.
As soon as a decision is reached regarding the need to fly a patient, or as soon as an appeal is made by another source to assist in a medical flight, the well-oiled Ezra Lemarpeh operation goes into action. Rav Firer, together with his assistant, Rav Refoel Wolf, locate the medical center most suitable to the patient's problem. They coordinate his admittance and even try to bargain, wishing to ease as much as possible the financial burden which every such flight entails.
 The organization volunteers also participate in the race. They are already used to racing against the clock; a race that has a significant meaning here, namely: battling for life. Some of them prepare the necessary medical equipment, while others make all the essential logistic arrangements. One takes care of renewing a passport that expired, or issuing a new one, while the other arranges for an entrance visa to the land of destination.
The Israeli Airport Authority acknowledges the importance of the organization volunteers' work at such times, and has issued them entry passes to the closed areas in the airport. These passes open the gates on the long road to saving a patient's life.
Only at the end of the grueling race, the organization's ambulance crew goes on its way to transport the patient from the hospital straight to the deck of the plane, after another team has already installed all the necessary equipment aboard the plane.
Saying goodbye: The patient and his family say their farewells. These moments are charged with emotions, tears of sadness and joy at the chance for survival. But always, the eyes shine with hope, and the heart says a silent prayer for the patient's complete recovery.
The plane has left the ground, ascending the skies. However, the people at Ezra Lemarpeh are still in the midst of action. When the plane lands, an ambulance will be waiting to take the patient to the hospital, while a warm family will help him and his attendants, lessening the feeling of being in a foreign place, far from home.
Only upon the patient's safe return to Israel, will the people at Ezra Lemarpeh mark down another success story of saving a life in the book of chessed )lovingkindness( which they are writing every day.
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