Healing
Hands
Supporting Glia's Complex Wound Care Program - Hosted by Dr. Ferrukh Faruqui
Why I'm Hosting This Event
When I first arrived at Nasser Hospital in March 2026, I was eager to help support its medical services. But I was discouraged by the overwhelming need, given the near total destruction of Gaza’s health care system. The ongoing blockade of critical equipment and supplies coupled with unending deaths from the ongoing violence made me wonder whether things were hopeless.
Then I met Glia wound service members. I was struck by their warmth, dedication to clinical expertise and their faith in the clinic’s potential. Specialized nurses including Maysa, Nesrin, and Abdul Hakim collaborate with physiotherapists, pharmacists, and nutritionists to help children and adults with burns, shrapnel wounds and infected post-surgical incisions in the setting of widespread malnutrition. They consult orthopedic surgeons and other specialists to treat deep skin ulcers and thigh-bone fractures from explosive injuries held together, often for months, by infected external rods. Lack of sanitation in tents makes caring for wounds even harder.
On March 18, I toured Glia’s four empty rooms in the ambulatory clinic. By the time I left Gaza six weeks later, the clinic was fully functional. In March it served 33 patients. By May patient volume went up to 459. The clinic now runs six days a week, with up to 80 patients treated daily (100 on Saturdays).
Staff from Al Aqsa Hospital and other NGOs are eager to harness Glia’s expertise. There is an increasing demand to expand its services to the middle and northern zones of the Strip. The Complex Wound Care Program is now developing a Mobile Wound Care Service to serve vulnerable patients in the community who can’t travel to the hospital because of disability and lack of transportation.
Our staff take pride in their work. But challenges remain, including shortages of advanced wound care dressings, unstable internet and electricity outages, and lack of privacy in the clinic spaces. Our fund-raising goals include addressing these ongoing challenges. We want our patients to get the life-saving care they need.
That is why I wanted to host this evening.
Every ticket purchased and every donation made helps Glia strengthen these life-saving services and bring complex wound care to even more patients across Gaza.
I hope you'll join me.
Dr. Ferrukh Faruqui
Evening Program
Doors Open
Dinner & Mingle
Panel Discussion
Q&A with Pannelists
Tea & Dessert + Fundraiser
Silent Auction Results
Closing Remarks
Guest Speakers
Dr. Ferrukh Faruqui
Dr. Ferrukh
Faruqui is a physician and freelance journalist. She’s practiced across three provinces since 1988, first as an emergency doctor, then as a family physician. She first applied to go overseas for medical relief work in 1992 but life intervened, so she looked after her local patients and her children instead. In 2020 she earned her MFA in Creative Nonfiction and then completed her fellowship in journalism and health impact from the University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health in 2025.
In March 2024, she organized her first Glia fundraiser for Gaza. In March 2026, she travelled to Palestine where she helped launch the Glia outpatient wound service at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis and witnessed first-hand both Gaza’s material devastation and the strength of its people.
Dr. Dorotea Gucciardo
Dorotea Gucciardo, PhD, is a scholar-activist who straddles both academe and aid work. She is the Director of Development for Glia, a Canadian-based medical solidarity organization that works with low-resource communities to bolser healthcare capacity. She is also an instructor in the Departments of History & Human Rights at King's University College at Western, and Research Coordinator for the Starling Centre for Just Technologies and Just Societies.
Her research focuses on the intersections of healthcare, war, and material culture, and she is working on a book entitled, "A Living Necropolis: Gaza and the Materiality of Genocide".
Venue
Karahi Point Restaurant
Authentic Pakistani cuisine in a welcoming setting, with ample parking and space for community gatherings. The restaurant regularly hosts private events and larger groups, making it an ideal venue for this special evening.
Get DirectionsWhy This Event Matters
Every day in Gaza, children and adults are living with severe burns, blast injuries, infected surgical wounds, and chronic ulcers. Many face delayed treatment because hospitals are overwhelmed, essential medical supplies remain scarce, and safe transportation is limited.
Glia's Complex Wound Care Program is changing that reality.
Built alongside Palestinian healthcare professionals, the program provides specialized wound assessment, advanced treatment, rehabilitation, nutrition support, and follow-up care for patients with some of the most challenging injuries. What began as a small clinic has rapidly grown into a trusted service treating hundreds of patients each month, while training local healthcare workers and expanding access through community-based care.
Your attendance helps sustain this work by providing the equipment, medical supplies, and operational support needed to keep the clinic running and extend care to patients who would otherwise go without.
Together, we can help restore healing, dignity, and hope, one patient at a time.
