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Odeda Benin Goren. 'My inner need to give and volunteer has been satisfied'
Photo: Odeda Benin Goren

Israeli expert helps UN deal with disasters

Odeda Benin Goren travels around the world, providing different countries with humanitarian aid on behalf of international organization

Odeda Benin Goren, 54, a special projects coordinator at the Sourasky Medical Center in Tel Aviv, is an international expert on dealing with disasters.

 

Whether floods, an earthquake or a tsunami – she arrives at almost every place where tens and hundreds of thousands of people are affected by such events.

 

At first, Benin Goren served as a senior nurse coordinator at the hospital's equipment center, and later as an expert in nursing, urgent care and disaster medicine. When the United Nations heard of her abilities and experience, the organization rushed to use her services as a coordination and humanitarian aid expert in disaster-stricken areas.

 

Several months ago, for example, she was invited to Brazil by the local firefighting service to explain to them how to do it right, especially ahead of the World Cup games which will be held in the country in about three years.

 

She recently returned from a trip to Central and South America, where she delivered active seminars on handling disasters.

 

"This has been an inseparable part of my activity through the Foreign Ministry for the past 10 years, and in the past three years through the UN," she says.

 

"Up until a year ago, I was in charge of preparing the hospital for emergency situations. Emergency medical services and disaster medicine are an international thing, and disasters don't choose where to come to. They happen almost anywhere. I approach it from a place of someone who believes aid should be given without borders."

 

Her natural sense of adventurousness, Benin Goren admits, is well combined with her activities, "as is the professional challenge," she adds. "At the same time, it allows me to get to know other cultures and create work relations in additional places.

 

"The bottom line is that it really satisfied my inner need to give and volunteer," she concludes.

 

 


פרסום ראשון: 03.18.12, 07:18
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