JLiving recently spoke with Dr. Ofir Koren, an interventional cardiologist and world expert in heart valve replacement using innovative, minimally invasive techniques, and Eti El-Kiss Mizrahi, CEO of ETI Accounting & Consulting, Inc., about their nonprofit venture, REIM, which is dedicated to providing medical aid, both physical and mental, to Israel.
Over the past year, REIM has been sending volunteer physicians to Israel for two-week shifts and addressing medical supply-chain and fulfillment needs.
According to its booklet, REIM has swiftly acquired a substantial amount of lifesaving equipment for those in critical need, including Nexcare bandages, pulse oximetry devices, anxiety-relief inhalers, drug-releasing bandages, paramedic kits, video-assisted laryngoscopes, portable ultrasounds, field-tablets, blood pressure monitors, large trauma kits and thermal blood transfer kits.
In a wide-ranging conversation with JLiving, REIM’s co-founders shared insights on healthcare across Israel, medical diplomacy, and their newest project — a prosthetic manufacturing lab aimed at revolutionizing care for those in need.
JLiving:Tell me about when this venture started and the impetus for it.
ETI: Prior to October 7, both Ofir and I had been engaged in medical diplomacy for many years. I focused on Israel and some Arab countries, and Ofir with the Western countries. When the war began, Dr. Koren, the Deputy Consul of Israel here in Los Angeles, and I formed a group to figure out how we could best help Israel.
We realized that everyone would be focusing on sending basic medical equipment, so we needed to find ways to make a substantial impact on a large number of people. That’s when the idea of sending innovative medical devices came up. Over time, our innovative equipment made a significant impact and saved many lives. Together, we pooled our resources and began to send doctors to Israel to address urgent medical needs.
DR. KOREN: October 7 was a shock for all of us, especially those of us living outside of Israel. Having grown up in Israel and served in the special forces, I understand the system well. The reality is that nearly 70% of the country’s physicians were called to serve on the front lines, leaving only around 30% of the medical staff available to work in hospitals across the country. While Israel has excellent medical care, much of it is concentrated in the central region. Once you move to the north or south, the same challenges found globally appear: limited access to quality medical services.
In some areas, there might only be one specialist providing critical services like oncological surgeries, chemotherapy or MRI scans. When that individual is recruited to serve, those services simply aren’t available. This created an urgent need to find solutions to maintain these essential services, especially in the northern and southern regions of Israel.
ETI: We discovered that Israel lacks a medical liaison in any of its consulates in the United States to efficiently gather information on what is needed. So we recruited volunteers from various fields, including technology, medicine, business and the legal sector, and together we built a global network of physicians from Europe, Canada and North and South America. In collaboration with Israel’s Ministry of Health, we were able to secure the necessary medical permits for these international physicians to operate in Israel alongside local medical teams.
Our teams gathered real-time needs directly from hospitals in Israel and took swift action to address them. This included recruiting U.S. physicians to support Israel and facilitating the donation of medical equipment from hospitals across the U.S. We also reached out to American hospitals and universities, providing them with accurate lists of what Israel required. Once the needs of a particular hospital were fulfilled, we removed it from the list, ensuring a well-organized and efficient response system.
JL: That is surprising because Israeli healthcare is often ranked in the top 10 in the world.
DR. KOREN: You’re right. The issue is that most medical services are still concentrated in the center of Israel. People living in the north or south often must drive an hour or more just to access basic medical care. For something like scheduling an MRI, it can take up to two weeks, sometimes even months. Quality medical care is not distributed evenly, which creates significant disparities in access and treatment across different regions of the country.
JL: It sounds like the disparity is based on geographic regions. Is it also based on wealth, ethnicity and religion? Are all those tied together?
ETI: Not necessarily. While Israel allocates millions of dollars annually to the northern and southern peripheral regions, it is still insufficient. As seen globally, many residents in central areas tend to be wealthier, and larger medical centers in these regions receive significant yearly donations in addition to government funding, often exceeding the entire budget allocated to peripheral centers. This, unfortunately, creates disparities in both medical care and access to advanced medical services.
DR. KOREN: Israel receives a significant amount of donations from around the world, but most of these funds are directed towards central Israel. Why is that? If you ask anyone in the U.S. familiar with Israeli healthcare, they’ll likely mention Sheba Medical Center. The reason for this is Sheba’s strong public relations efforts. They invest heavily in building their brand, making it attractive for donors to support.
This creates a positive cycle where Sheba continues to receive the bulk of international donations, particularly from the U.S. In contrast, medical centers outside central Israel lack the initial resources to establish such PR operations or cultivate relationships with American donors, which hinders their ability to attract similar levels of support.
JL: I want to talk about this term, “medical diplomacy.” What did it mean to you before October 7, and what does it mean to you after?
ETI: For me, it’s all about building relationships. Coming from an entertainment background, I’ve learned how to bridge communities without allowing religion or politics to create divisions. That’s precisely what I set out to achieve with medical diplomacy — fostering connections between Israel and countries with predominantly Muslim or Christian populations. The goal was to send Israeli doctors to these countries for internships, and in return, invite their doctors to Israel for two to three weeks so they could experience the country and its people firsthand.
One of our first initiatives involved flying Dr. Fardad Esmailian, a leading heart surgeon from Cedars-Sinai, to Israel. The first heart transplant he performed at Sheba Medical Center was for an Israeli-Arab, Muslim patient, during a time of war. This encapsulates our vision for medical diplomacy: creating opportunities for people to experience Israel and for Israelis to connect with other cultures through the medical field, where religion and politics are left out of the equation.
JL: I want to go back to something you said about building bridges between communities, especially between Israel and Muslim countries. With the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, can you talk about that situation?
DR. KOREN: Any loss of innocent civilians, especially children and the elderly who are not actively involved in the war, is truly heartbreaking. There’s no other way to express it — they are innocent, and the devastation transcends all circumstances. REIM is committed to ensuring medical care for all, regardless of ethnicity or political opinion. Currently, we are launching a project in Ukraine and Russia. As always, we remain apolitical and do not interfere in political matters. Our focus is entirely on the humanitarian front, providing medical equipment to anyone in need, regardless of the side they are on or have been forced to be on.
Our primary mission is to ensure that civilians caught in the conflict receive the support they desperately need. This includes offering essential aid such as EMS services, ambulances and other critical resources to alleviate the suffering of those who are not part of the fighting.
ETI: In terms of liability, we cannot send our physicians to any war zone, whether in Gaza or elsewhere in the world. However, our American physicians, who have been sent to treat civilians in Israeli medical centers, have indeed treated civilians from Gaza who were transferred to Israel for care. We remain fully committed to providing medical assistance to anyone in need, regardless of their location or background.
JL: Can you talk about the first prosthetic manufacturing lab that you are building in the south of Israel?
ETI: We started receiving numerous requests for prosthetic limbs, and when Ofir and I went to Israel, we were quite surprised. Why were these requests coming in? Given Israel’s history with wars, we expected a more established system for prosthetics. However, after conducting extensive research, we discovered that most prosthetic limbs are actually customized and manufactured in the U.S., with only the initial measurements being taken in Israel. Realizing the gap, we knew we had to find a way to change this — and quickly.
Dr. KOREN: Israel has over 400 people in need of prosthetic limbs. Our goal is to bring the necessary technology and machinery to Israel, allowing the country to both take measurements and produce customized, locally made prosthetic limbs. This would provide a faster and more efficient solution for those in need, especially for children who require adjustments every few years as they grow.
ETI: We have formed a joint venture with Adi Negev-Nahalat Eran, a rehabilitative village in the Negev Desert for individuals with severe disabilities, to establish the first prosthetic limb lab of its kind in Israel. Our goal, once the war is over, is for this lab to serve the entire Middle East, providing advanced care and support to those in need of prosthetic limbs across the region.
REIM is currently working to build a safe house in the southern district of Israel for children and youth struggling with mental instability, anxiety and PTSD. This facility will provide a nurturing space where they can express themselves through art, music, conversation and other therapeutic activities, offering them a place to share, heal and find solace in a supportive environment.
To volunteer, donate or learn more about REIM, visit www.reim.life.