Dear Readers and Sunrise Orthodontics Patients,
We typically use this space to publish information about dental health that we believe to be educational and beneficial to our patients. Today, however, we wanted to take a step back from our usual blogs and use this opportunity to call for a peaceful resolution to the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the Levant. As healthcare professionals, our primary motivation is always to protect the well-being of our community. These are the values that led us to dedicate our lives to this field and the reason why the human toll of this conflict weighs so heavily on our hearts and souls. Our concerns lie with the true victims: the innocent children, civilians, and healthcare providers caught in the middle of a war they did not choose to be part of. We want to make clear that this is not a political post. This is not our moment to take a side. We are speaking up as healthcare professionals because we chose this career to help people and now we look helplessly to the senseless bombings and killings wondering when this will end. We believe it is our duty to do everything we can, even in this modest way, to alleviate the pain and agony of our fellow man. That is why we have a moral obligation to inform our patients and to ask you to join us, as physicians, parents, and humans, in calling for an end to the war in Palestine, Israel, and the Gaza Strip. Twenty-three out of 35 hospitals in the Gaza Strip have been evacuated or stopped taking patients due to the surge of casualties and alarming shortages of fuel, clean water, and medical supplies. These shortages have extended to the few remaining functioning hospitals, which have been forced to double as shelters for those affected by the bombings. The New York Times recently conducted several interviews with doctors attending to the victims in Gaza’s major hospitals. Dr. Ebraheem Matar spoke about having to perform amputations without anesthesia, using only sedatives to keep a child asleep. Because electricity has been cut off to several hospitals, doctors are finding themselves conducting complex surgical procedures and amputations using the flashlights on their cell phones. Even more disturbing, many doctors are forced to decide which child is more likely to survive so they can receive ventilation, leaving those in more dire situations to perish. A decision no one should have to make and one that would not be necessary if it were not for this war. Beyond doubling as shelters, some of these hospitals are starting to resemble orphanages. Children wander the halls without their parents, often the lone survivors of bombings. This has become such a common occurrence that doctors in the Gaza Strip have started to develop a new medical term, “WCNSF” – Wounded Child No Surviving Family. In many cases, children are either too young or too traumatized to speak, leaving doctors no choice but to write “Unknown” with markers on their bodies. These are but glimpses into the waking nightmare that these children and doctors are experiencing every second this war continues. Entire lives, careers, dreams, and aspirations, snuffed out in moments, leaving us asking – For what? What could possibly be worth all this pain and suffering? What motivation could be worth the lives of thousands of children? How could a piece of dirt or military retaliation ever justify bringing harm to the most helpless of us? Even in the midst of these atrocities, the good within humanity still finds a way to shine through. Among these stories, there are thousands of doctors, nurses, and first responders risking their lives, working day and night without rest to save whoever they can. Many of these healthcare providers have already lost their lives because they’ve refused to leave hospitals under bombardment and lie dead beside their patients. They’ve made the ultimate sacrifice, and we cannot allow their lives to be lost in vain. We are profoundly aware that there is no simple solution. One cannot make a conflict this complex disappear overnight. And although no one seems to have an answer, what we know for sure is that the value of the life of a single child (let alone thousands) must be greater than any territorial conflict. It needs to be. Otherwise, what does that say about us? We believe a cease-fire, for the sake of saving innocent lives, is the bare minimum we can do to salvage countless futures. This is a call to come together in our shared humanity and demand an end to this genocide. If enough of us join our voices, we can start shifting the momentum in the direction of righteousness. With Love, With Hope, The Sunrise Orthodontics Team
