{"id":1012,"date":"2024-05-05T07:54:53","date_gmt":"2024-05-05T07:54:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/presidentreport.biu.ac.il\/?p=1012"},"modified":"2024-05-27T08:24:10","modified_gmt":"2024-05-27T08:24:10","slug":"rising-to-the-northern-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/presidentreport.biu.ac.il\/index.php\/2024\/05\/05\/rising-to-the-northern-challenge\/","title":{"rendered":"Rising to the Northern Challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The Russell Berrie Galilee Diabetes SPHERE<\/h5>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Rising to the Northern Challenge<\/strong><\/h3> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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To enable northern cities to protect and serve their residents as Israel faces a multi-front war, SPHERE\u2014Bar-Ilan\u2019s ambitious initiative to move the needle on diabetes in the Galilee\u2014deployed an emergency-response platform that connects all players in a local ecosystem for an optimized health and social-welfare response. <\/h6>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n
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Helping the Helpers<\/h3>
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From determining the right areas of focus to assessing a given measure\u2019s efficacy, information is among the key factors in safeguarding towns and cities. Yet with Israel\u2019s north under relentless rocket fire from Hezbollah\u2014and more than 80,000 northern residents forced to flee\u2014the Galilee\u2019s poorest municipalities struggled, in the first weeks of the war, to provide their populations with critical health services on account of information that was fragmented, out-of-date, and incomplete.<\/p>\n

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Fortunately, having already demonstrated the power of leveraging these municipalities\u2019 own resources into a holistic, coordinated response, the Russell Berrie Galilee Diabetes SPHERE knew how to help them rise to the challenge of meeting their residents\u2019 health needs.<\/p>\n

Called the Municipal Population Emergency-Management Platform, SPHERE\u2019s emergency tool\u2014rolled out into the region\u2019s weakest communities within just five days of the October 7th<\/sup> attack\u2014was funded by a generous grant from the Rothschild Foundation and implemented with the help of students from the Azrieli Faculty of Medicine. Using the same methodology SPHERE employs to revolutionize the prevention, control, and care of diabetes, the tool breaks the silos between a municipality\u2019s health, social-welfare, and even business and education sectors by integrating their health and social-welfare data and activities. Then, armed with a full and updated picture of their available health providers, equipment, and priorities, these municipalities\u2019 leaders worked with SPHERE\u2019s team of health professionals and municipal liaisons to design and deliver effective interventions.<\/p> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n

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\n In March, Minister of Health Uriel Buso (left) visited Safed to discuss expanding the SPHERE ecosystem model to cities and municipalities throughout Israel, and making its model of diabetes prevention, control, and care a national initiative. Along with SPHERE Director Prof. Naim Shehadeh (center) and SPHERE Deputy Director Sivan Spitzer (right), Buso met with Safed Mayor Yossi Kakon and the SPHERE municipal team. <\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n
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\u201cI knew the tool was a success when I sat in meetings between municipal leaders and representatives from the Home Front Command, and for the first time, these leaders could provide accurate data about the health equipment and inventory at their disposal and speak from an informed place about what they need,\u201d says SPHERE Deputy Director Dr. Sivan Spitzer, who explained that the project is now entering its second phase: Namely, updating the tool to include more information, and bringing its repository of emergency municipal guidelines online\u2014and into Arabic\u2014for access by the public. \u201cInitially, we thought the challenge was how to work in parallel, providing an acute response on the one hand while advancing SPHERE\u2019s objectives on the other. What we found through our work on this new tool is that the Galilee is not only better prepared to meet health needs in times of war, but is also better equipped to meet health goals in times of relative peace.\u201d<\/p> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n

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Spheres of Influence<\/h3>
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The Municipal Population Emergency-Management Platform\u2019s impact on the Galilee:<\/p> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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+550,000<\/h3>\n

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17<\/h3>\n

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Strong Foundations: An Emergency Clinical Infrastructure for Diabetes<\/h3>
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Recognizing that the Galilee\u2019s 120,000 diabetics are among the most vulnerable populations in times of emergency, SPHERE build the foundations for a hotline for family doctors in need of diabetes-treatment consultations. Led by SPHERE Director Prof. Naim Shehadeh, President of the Israel Diabetes Association, and staffed by SPHERE\u2019s team of diabetes experts, the hotline is intended to provide front-line health responders with the guidance required to treat the disease under challenging conditions, such as a possible war in the North. SPHERE also developed the infrastructure for a hotline for diabetic patients, staffed by trained representatives from all four of Israel\u2019s HMOs.<\/p> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n

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Moving the Needle<\/h3>
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In 2023, SPHERE advanced the municipal component of its unique ecosystem model in the following key ways:<\/p>\n