Miriam Ballin’s heart sank when she saw the water line – a calling card of Hurricane Harvey — ringing her former childhood home in Houston. But she couldn’t linger. Urgent work awaited her as leader of the United Hatzalah Psychotrauma and Crisis Response Unit.
The voluntary six-person team of Israeli mental-health professionals landed in Texas last Thursday morning on behalf of the Israel Rescue Coalition. It is one of several Israeli humanitarian-aid groups sending personnel to Texas.
Ballin, a family therapist in Jerusalem, had sent her five kids off to their first day of school the morning before she left. Her husband, a physician, encouraged her to go.
“I hadn’t been back to Houston for years,” Texas native Ballin told ISRAEL21c yesterday from the Dallas Convention Center, where the Israelis are giving psychological first aid to evacuees and relief workers.
“Houston was already in recovery mode when we arrived, but the mayor’s office said we were needed in the surrounding towns of Beaumont and Port Arthur. They were still saving people from rooftops and could not get supplies in and out.
“We headed out in the highest two SUVs we could get hold of, and joined the National Guard motorcade with other EMS volunteers in boats. On our left and right we saw 10 feet of water covering cars; we saw dogs on rooftops. It was really sad.” -- More...
ISRAEL21c was founded in 2001, in the wake of the Second Intifada, to broaden public understanding of Israel beyond typical portrayals in the mainstream media.
The organization’s founders – Israeli-American technology executives – understood the great power of the Internet and developed a first-of-its kind online product with global appeal and reach.
