As soon as the grave scope of the Miami condo tower collapse became known on Thursday morning, United Hatzalah understood that they needed to help out in whatever way they could.
“The Jewish community of Miami has been a friend and an amazing supporter of United Hatzalah and Israel in general,” said Dov Maisel, Vice President of Operations at United Hatzalah, in an interview with Arutz Sheva. “We understood that we needed to take part in giving back to this community and helping.”
After being approached by the Jewish community and the Greater Miami Jewish Federation, they did an assessment of what the community needed.
While Florida has first class American health care available, they do not have something that is unique to Israel: a psychotrauma unit.
Haztalah’s psychodrama unit is “very unique” and has served Americans in previous disasters, such as the Houston floods, and the terror attack at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue.
Immediately upon their arrival in Miami, the unit began working with Jewish community leaders and families.
Their goal is to “provide a toolkit for the community to deal not only with this week but for weeks to come.”
Maisel described the atmosphere as a “very difficult situation.”
“Helplessness – not knowing what’s happening. There are so many people that are still displaced and missing,” he said.
The reaction from the community to seeing Israelis helping out during a disaster has been overwhelmingly positive, he added, noting the Miami Jewish community has always been known for being very supportive of Israel.
“The fact that so many Israeli are coming here to help them, they see it as the family hugging them,” he said.