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During a talk at Glenwood Springs’ United Methodist Church last week, Grand Junction’s Dr. Barbara Zind described desperate hospitals in Gaza struggling to provide services since Oct. 7.
On Thursday, Dr. Zind discussed what was supposed to be a 3-day medical mission with the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund in October. Her trip was extended nearly a month after Hamas launched an attack on Israel that killed roughly 1,200 people. Hamas took approximately 250 people hostage, and travel in and out of Gaza was extremely limited.
She recalls walking on the beach when missiles were first launched into Israel.
“On the Mediterranean, it was dark, and it was about 6 a.m.,” Dr. Zind said. “At about 6:30 a.m., we started seeing missiles going across from Gaza in all different directions toward Israel, and we could see the Iron Dome missiles intercepting them. We knew that trouble was starting. I mean, when it goes one way, it's going to come the other way also.”
Since the attack on Oct. 7, 2023, over 36,000 Palestinians have been killed in the fighting, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
In her presentation, Dr. Zind emphasized that she’s trying to spread awareness about the "terrible conditions" doctors and hospitals are facing in Gaza, but she’s not a politician.
“I'm a pediatrician, and I'm a humanitarian, right?” Dr. Zind said. “I do hold both sides at fault, and so not just the prime minister and the Israeli officials, but also Hamas and the people who led that attack are both felt to be targeting civilians.”
She added, however, that withholding food from people in Gaza “is not self-defense.”
The majority of Dr. Zind’s presentation included photos and descriptions of hospitals in Gaza. She also touched on the lack of reliable access to food and clean water since the fighting escalated.
She included statistics from the United Nations about the number of trucks carrying food, medicine, and other supplies into Gaza each day.
Before May 5, roughly 100-350 trucks were allowed into Gaza per day, which was down from an average of 500 trucks per day before Oct. 7, according to Dr. Zind.
But since May 5, on most days, zero trucks have been allowed into the region.
“It's a concern for me because I know that 1.1 million people there are in that starvation category, and it's just the most severe level of food insecurity,” Dr. Zind said.
Of 36 hospitals in Gaza, Dr. Zind says roughly 11 are operating, but they’re only partially functional.
She said many of those facilities are dealing with rolling blackouts, overcrowding, and a shortage of antibiotics, and after Oct. 7, children and mothers quickly became vulnerable.
“These babies are now cohorted together,” Dr. Zind said. “There [were] problems with formula, and then the neonatologists worried that once the babies were discharged, they’d come back with infections. They’d come back with high sodium, because the formula was being mixed incorrectly. Mothers were having trouble breastfeeding, because the mothers are malnourished, also.”
Dr. Zind now serves on medical advisory boards for the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund and Heal Palestine, in some cases making decisions about which children need to be evacuated from Gaza to receive care.
While demoralized over the conditions many patients face in Gaza, Dr. Zind said her family, her community in Grand Junction, and her volunteer work keep her going.
“The fact that I'm able to give these talks, because I think it's crucial for people to know where Gaza is on the map, and what their conditions were like before the war,” Dr. Zind said. “So that gives me hope that people are more aware.
For the sake of her family, Dr. Zind said she will “wait until the bombing stops” to return to Gaza.
Her presentation was sponsored by Roaring Fork Methodist Churches, Two Rivers Unitarian Universalist, and Western Slope Mennonite Fellowship.
