Embedded Files
Statement from Healthcare Workers for Palestine – Maine Chapter (December 15, 2023)
🚨 Healthcare workers in Maine: click to add your signature 🚨
We, an interdisciplinary and multicultural group of healthcare workers across the state of Maine, stand unequivocally in solidarity with the Palestinian people. We are devastated by the indiscriminate genocide and war crimes they face daily at the hands of the state of Israel. We recognize the asymmetry of power between the colonizer (the state of Israel) and the colonized (the Palestinian people). We recognize that the system of Israeli apartheid, occupation, and settler-colonialism under which Palestinians have struggled for 75 years, lies at the root of the violence. We hold the United States government complicit in this genocide and occupation due to their massive material military support to the state of Israel in the midst of this genocide, and their repeated vetoes of United Nations (UN) calls for ceasefire.
The human-made catastrophe inflicted on both the everyday life and the healthcare system for our fellow humans in Palestine is unprecedented and indisputable. The healthcare system in Gaza is in total collapse, and Palestinians are suffering in innumerable ways under siege and genocide. From October 7 to December 15, 2023:
More than 19,000 Palestinians have been killed by state-sanctioned Israeli violence in Gaza as well as the West Bank – including over 10,000 children – with thousands more suspected dead, but not yet found, as they remain trapped under rubble. More than 1.8 million Palestinians have been displaced from their homes by the incessant bombings and total destruction of >60,000 homes.
Out of 36 hospitals in Gaza, over 25 hospitals, over 40 ambulances, and over 50 clinics have been destroyed or rendered fully inoperable by targeted bombing by the IDF, including all hospitals in northern Gaza. The 11 hospitals that remain are still damaged and continue to be targeted, and these 11 hospitals have taken on the full load of caring for the over 50,000 and counting injured Palestinians.
Basic medications, including antibiotics and anesthetics, are lacking, and numerous patients have died because of this. Patients with serious illnesses such as cancer or kidney disease are at particularly high risk, and many have died due to lack of access to medications or dialysis. Healthcare workers have performed surgery on the ground of hospital hallways without anesthesia.
Countless patients have died because there was not someone to take care of them in time, or rescue them from the rubble.
Basic resources, including food, electricity, water, medical aid, and fuel, have been completely cut off from Gaza by Israel for weeks at a time. Important community resources such as bakeries, schools, and places of worship have been destroyed by targeted bombings. Numerous Palestinians have starved to death.
Of the minimal quantity of aid trucks offered by the international community that have been allowed into Gaza, many have been bombed by the IDF.
Hospital generators have been bombed or run out of fuel and their oxygen supplies have been cut off. Numerous premature babies have died in the NICU due to lack of electricity to their incubators, and patients on ventilators have died from lack of electricity or oxygen.
The interruption of communication networks has prevented EMS crews from knowing where they are most needed during the endless airstrikes. Numerous ambulances have been targeted and bombed while responding to victims of airstrikes.
Numerous hospitals have been besieged, preventing ambulances from coming in or out; notably among these is Al-Shifa hospital, a large hospital in northern Gaza, whose director Dr. Mohammad Abu Salmiya was kidnapped by the IDF after a prolonged siege on the hospital.
Gaza’s only mental healthcare facility was bombed. Massive psychological trauma has been inflicted on the people of Palestine, including children and healthcare workers, during this genocide and in the context of the broader occupation. Even prior to 2023, a ten-year-old child in Gaza would have already lived through seven major bombing campaigns in their short life.
Since October, over 4,000 Palestinians have been kidnapped by the IDF during nightly raids in the occupied West Bank, adding to the thousands of Palestinian prisoners held without charge and subject to severe mistreatment in military prisons without access to proper medical care.
Despite all this, brave healthcare workers in Palestine continue to work every day to save as many lives as they can, knowing each day may be their last with the constant bombing of hospitals. Over 200 of our colleagues in healthcare have been killed in the line of duty by IDF attacks on Gaza, and over 40 have been kidnapped by the IDF.
All of this is funded by our leaders in the US. State-sanctioned media supports the colonial empire and constantly erases and silences the ever-growing tragedies faced by the Palestinian people. The dehumanization of Palestinians in the media is systematic, intentional, and wide-spread.
In the midst of the past two months of genocide, it is crucial to recognize that the atrocities inflicted upon Palestinians by the state of Israel, particularly in Gaza, are by no means new. This violence is an unprecedented escalation of decades of colonization, terror, kidnapping, and open-air imprisonment committed by the IDF against Palestinians.
The response from the U.S. medical establishment has been one of forced silence, and we believe that silence in the face of genocide is complicity. We can hold our silence no longer. We are deeply disappointed by organizations such as the American Medical Association who refuse to call for a ceasefire in the name of “medical neutrality.” We believe that healthcare workers worldwide have a sacred responsibility to turn towards human suffering, not away from it; especially in defense of the most systematically oppressed and vulnerable, and in solidarity with our fellow healthcare workers struggling for justice and humanity in Palestine. We wish to make a world where a stance against genocide is not considered controversial. We wish to stand on the right side of history. Our place in the community is to heal and preserve life, and our voices have power.
It will take many decades to repair and rebuild in the aftermath of this genocide. The first step is an immediate ceasefire to allow the full release and exchange of all Palestinian and Israeli prisoners, and an end to the occupation in Palestine.
We stand for love, peace, freedom, and the right to self expression for all people everywhere. Antisemitism is real and we reject it in all its forms. We recognize the clear distinction between the state of Israel and the Jewish people, and believe that the state of Israel has no claim on the Jewish identity and does not represent the Jewish people. We call for a permanent ceasefire and an end to the occupation in Palestine. No one is free until everyone is free.
In peace and solidarity,
Healthcare Workers for Palestine, Maine Chapter
Original statement from December 15, 2023
Signed by 136 healthcare workers in Maine:
- Bridget Sakowski, LCSW, Therapist
- Yusuf Ebrahim, MD, resident doctor in Maine
- Jessie Mathieson, MHRT, DSP
- Sarah English, RN MMC
- Annika Hikade, MD in Maine
- Katie Davis, MD in Maine
- Diana Lapp, Maine Physician
- Amy Strum RN Maine Medical Center
- Nell Bridger, RN
- Mary Kate O'Sullivan, RN, Maine Medical Center
- Sadie Tirrell, RN
- Meg Sinclair, nurse at Maine Medical Center
- Mary Cook, LCSW Portland Maine
- Audrey Stewart, CPM LM Independent Midwife
- Madison Furst, CMA at MGMC
- Jesse Wilson, RN at Maine Medical Center
- Abi Maycock, LCSW
- Brooke Maden, PA-C at Maine Medical Center
- Lila Maycock, LCSW in Maine
- Joel Horne, Behavioral Health Case Worker
- Barbara Szatkowski RN, Maine
- Carol Horne LCPC
- Matthew Fein, Psychotherapist
- Maddie Himes RN at Maine Medical Center
- Annika Moltz, RN at Maine Medical Center
- Stewart Barbour, RN MMC
- Tosh Chabot Alsagoff, mental health professional in Maine
- Jennifer Czifrik, RN at Stephen’s Memorial Hospital
- Margaret Long, OT Portland Maine
- Dr. Donna M. Joss, Occupational Therapist, Professor Emeritus, Certified Yoga Instructor
- Anna Pederson, PhD, psychologist in Maine
- Caitlyn Durant RN
- Mahal Alvarez-Backus MS1, University of New England
- Julie Lundman, CNM
- Ash Hebert, former MHRT at KBH and ASI-NE
- Clare McInerney, MSW Student
- Bridget Mancini, MSW
- Shelly Colantonio, Mental Health Counseling Student
- Gina Fiori, CMHC in training
- Saras Yerlig, peer support specialist
- Hannah Matthews, community doula and abortion care worker
- Julie Blair, Mental Health Counseling student
- Sarah Tewhey L.Ac, Doula
- Mea Starr Tavares, Bodyworker
- Jenny Ingwersen - LCPC Maine
- Caitlin Murray, RN at Maine Medical Center
- Jackie Schrader, RN at MMC
- Chris Hasslinger MD, Physician in Maine
- Mathieu Boulad, MD, Physician in Maine
- Katie Saunders, FNP-C
- Nazifa Sheikh, OMS-I at UNECOM
- Sally Bowden-Schaible, LCPC, CCMHC
- Barbara Hester LCPC
- Oliver James, LCPC, Maine
- Dr. Morry El-Badry
- Whitney Mills, RN
- Jyotika Vallurupalli,OMS-I UNECOM
- Cristina Kontogiannis, medical student at UNECOM
- Josef Khalifeh, OMS-I, UNECOM
- Sarah Trent, medical student at UNECOM
- Ashley Bartlett, OMS1 at University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine
- Sikder Sakil, First-year Medical Student at University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine
- Ashley Schumacher, RN
- Brandon Swan, OMS-I, UNECOM
- Christina Kessler, RN
- Jamila Levasseur, retired RN
- Stephen Benson, PhD, Maine-licensed psychologist
- Ann Maksymowicz LCSW
- Cam Goller, FNP-C
- Ruth Ann Keister, LMT in Maine
- Sarah Snyder, LAc
- Davila LeBlanc, CRMA and DSP
- Maggie Doherty LCPC
- Elizabeth Ackerson M.D.
- Joe Niemczura, RN, MS, Critical Care Nurse
- Jannika Coons, Funeral Director
- Jonathan Haines, RN
- Anna Balbo Baldwin, RN
- C. Lisa Norris, APRN
- Jessica Cross, RN
- Nicole Benoit, SART Advocate Sexual Assault Response Services Southern Maine
- Sumayya Ayaz, MD. Psychiatrist in Maine
- Jamie Andrews ICU Doctor
- Sonja Darai, Public Health
- Marguerite Grifka, SPTA, Kennebec Valley Community College
- Shulamith Bonham, MD MPH
- Liz Strawbridge, MD
- Lauren Stearns RN in Bangor
- Kimberly Hammill, LCSW
- Sadie Cross
- Anthony Abdallah
- Walid, HCW at Maine Medical Center
- K. Richards, NP at Maine Medical Partners
- Hannah, RN in Portland
- Nakita at TBH
- Mary, healthcare worker at MaineHealth
- Caitlin W, RN
- Diana, Respiratory Therapist in Maine
- Enzo, RN in Maine
- Melinda S., healthcare worker in Maine
- Emmy, a physician in Maine
- BCBa, healthcare worker in Maine
- M. A nurse in Maine
- C, Firefighter/AEMT in Maine
- An anonymous ambulatory specialty NP at MMC
- Anonymous NP at St. Mary’s in Lewiston
- An anonymous medical resident at MMC
- An anonymous NP in Portland
- An anonymous NP in Maine
- An anonymous CNA at Maine General
- An anonymous certified prosthetist
- An anonymous OT in Maine
- An anonymous LCSW at Midcoast Maine
- An anonymous RN at Mercy Hospital
- An anonymous healthcare chaplain in Central Maine
- An anonymous PCT at Maine Medical Center
- An anonymous Peer Support at Maine Behavioral Health
- An anonymous mental health counseling student at USM
- An anonymous endoscopy technician at SMHC
- An anonymous RN in the MaineHealth System
- An anonymous mental healthcare worker in Maine
- 2 anonymous medical students in Maine
- An anonymous healthcare student in Maine
- 2 additional anonymous healthcare worker at Maine Medical Center
- 9 additional anonymous healthcare workers in Maine
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse