Revital Gorali, a speech therapist and director of the Dr. Sam Michael Tucker hearing institute at Soroka Medical Center, shares the story of how and why the soldiers in the picture got to Soroka:
“On Wednesday, October 18th at 21:14, I received a message from a doctor at "Ir HaBahadim" (army training base in the south of Israel) . She wrote that two soldiers who had fought during the vicious terrorist attack on that terrible Saturday, and suffered the loss of their friends lives, were at the base. Several of them complained of hearing impediments due to exposure to gunshots and explosions, and they needed a quick hearing test to ensure they were fit for duty before entering Gaza".
Revital immediately called all institute staff members to provide comprehensive hearing tests to the soldiers. Meanwhile, she instructed the doctor on base what was medically required before the tests. Early the next morning, an experienced team of speech therapists, including Odeya Erlich, Michal Leibovich, Irit Yagev and Malca Kosa, was ready to examine the soldiers. Limor Hajaj, secretary of the institute, was in charge of coordinating with the army.
The therapists conducted comprehensive, professional hearing tests for all soldiers. Some of them were found to have significant hearing loss that required medical intervention. Speech therapist Odeya Erlich explained how to use earplugs effectively for good noise cancellation and to prevent them from falling out. We also sent an informative video to the base doctor so she could share the knowledge with more soldiers.
“After the tests and before they returned to their army duties, we have arranged the soldiers to have a rich and healthy breakfast and gave them a small gift, we thank Gila Levi and Meirav Rahamim for coordinating and helping with that. We part ways, feeling that we had done the best we could to help them and raise their spirits".
