I was off on Friday and Saturday. The weather was perfect for touring. On Friday, I drove up the coast and on Saturday I walked around Tel Aviv.
I decided to visit a neighbourhood called Neve Tsedek. N-T is an older area where the houses are about 100 years old. The streets are very twisting, narrow and often cobblestoned. Most of the area has been renovated and gentrified. There are single homes but mostly row housing. The homes that have been updated are beautiful and I am sure very expensive The area is not far from the beach. There are many high quality shops and restaurants. I had a capuccino and a frozen yoghurt decorated with fruits and chocolate sauce.
Later in the afternoon, the sun came out and so did the heat so I did some body surfing.
You can see from the pictures the contrasts that are apparent in the city. There are high rise apartments, houses that have not yet been renovated, gentrified streets and mansions. There is always something to discover in the city that they call ‘the city that never sleeps’.
I spent the day today in the ambulance. The cases were very routine. Tomorrow I will do an evening shift, leaving me the morning to catch up on my emails. As usual, I am sipping a beer, finishing off my first pizza in Israel and writing my blog.
Yesterday was somewhat cool with temperatures in the mid 20s and cloudy so I decided to do some touring by car. I took towels and a bathing suit just in case, but the weather was really not nice enough for my usual swim in the Med. I drove to Natanya a medium size city north of Tel Aviv. The city seems nice to live in but less interesting to visit than Tel Aviv. There is a central market place/plaza with stores and restaurants which I drove around but didn’t stop as I could not find a parking spot. I then drove along the coast to observe the beach. The beach is at the bottom of a cliff that has a beautiful point of view. You could either park for free and walk down, which was quite a hike or drive down and pay for parking. I chose the later but drove through the parking lot to get a good view of the beach. It was windy so there were a lot of surfers out. I love to watch surfers. It seems like a sport that I should try once, with lessons of course, before I get too old to do these activities.
I then drove to a Caesarea, another town north of Natanya. Israel is a tiny country so the distances from one place to another are not far. All of the land in between the towns is exploited one way or another with agriculture or industry. They don’t have the endless forests here like in Canada. You can’t really get lost as you can always see civilization. Caesarea, as the name implies was built by the Romans. Herod the king got a bad rap in the bible for certain deeds. However, he was quite the builder. Masada was built by him as a summer palace. After the Romans, there were numerous conquests by the Arabs, the Crusaders and the Ottomans to name a few. The city was an important port and has an aqueduct. The ruins, as the name implies were quite ruined. However some vestiges remain which are worth seeing. To top things off and to enjoy the view, I had a capuccino and a gelato.
I then drove to Herzliya which is another town just north of Tel Aviv. The town is very pretty with numerous parks. There is a lot of wealth here and the houses in the town are grandiose. Unlike North America where the front lawn is very important, these houses as in much of Europe are protected by high walls making viewing somewhat difficult.
Last evening I was invited to Vickie’s for a Passover Shabbat dinner. Vickie was very influential in getting me my place with MDA. Vickie is originally from Turkey but made Aliyah many years ago. She always invites young students to her house when I am invited. Yesterday I made the acquaintance of 2 young fellows from Turkey who were spending several months here learning Hebrew and doing internships in their respective fields of interest. It was interesting talking to them about their lives as Jews in Turkey. Turkey is a Muslim country which has had a checkered relationship with Israel. I must say that having lived in Canada for 74 years, up until Oct 7, I have never directly or indirectly had an antisemitism incident towards me. The 2 fellows gave me the impression that as Jews, they had to be cautious living in Turkey. Outward displays of Judaism would not be dangerous but could possibly not be welcome. Seeing the demonstrations in Canada, the US and Europe, I can only hope that we are not moving towards this problem.
I wrote my last blog sitting on the beach late in the evening. I am now writing this blog while sitting at a cafe, sipping a capuccino and waiting for my laundry to complete its cycle at the laundromat. It reminds me of my days as a medical student in Reims, minus the iPad of course.
I was asked to do a double shift yesterday in exchange for 2 days off. It seemed like a good deal. I was up at 5:30, had a light breakfast and drove to my MDA station to start at 6:45. I actually worked at 2 stations, beginning my second shift in the afternoon and finishing at 11:15, returning to my hotel at midnight. I needed to relax a little so I had a salad and beer at my favourite bar/cafe/restaurant on the beach while doing emails.
Both shifts were rather routine as sometimes occurs and which I have described on previous blog entries. On the last shift I worked with 3 young ladies. As usual, I was impressed by their professionalism, kindness to the patient, speed and efficiency. The P-Ms have 2 years of intensive training and are very well prepared for all emergencies with appropriate protocols and back up with higher authorities if they need on the spot advice. I try to add any medical advice and approval of medical decisions when asked for my opinion. They seem to like to have a physician on board for back up when necessary.
We had 1 case which could have been a disaster but which turned out well for the patient. She was really lucky to survive and should go out and buy a lottery ticket as ‘Lady Luck’ is definitely on her side. She was driving on the highway at 100K when she lost control of her car. The car went off the road and jumped a 3 meter high group of shrubs. it was lucky that the car did not hit a tree as it would have split the car in two. Instead the shrubs slowed down the car and saved her life. The car was destroyed. We had to get the fire department to extricate her from the vehicle. We took the usual precautions, back board, neck brace, IV line etc and got her out through the back window. We got her to a trauma center and ran her through a number of blood tests, x-rays and CT scans. Other than being seriously scared , and a few minor bruises, she was totally unscathed by the accident. She was very, very lucky.
I just finished an 11 hour shift and I was just asked to do a double shift for tomorrow. I think that they are short physicians to work on the ambulances. I have been here for 10 days with MDA and I think that I am beginning to get reasonably well known among the P-Ms who may be asking for me. Tomorrow, I will be up at 5:10 to leave at 6:00 arrive at the MDA station at 6:45 and do a double shift until 11:00. It is almost like I am back at the RVH as a resident. Anyway the P-Ms are very nice to work with and the work is exciting as you can see for yourselves in my blog.
I am sitting out at a restaurant on the beach in Tel Aviv. I am at a low table on the sand with my legs stretched out under the table. I think that I ate here with Dominique 10 years ago. It is pitch black, with no stars out this evening. It must be 25K with a slight breeze, to cool things off as it hit 37K today. The restaurant speakers are playing American/Israeli modern music, not too loud, just nice enough to enjoy the evening. The boardwalk is packed with people strolling along. People are still playing volleyball on the sand.
I am getting used to the types of call that we receive. Elderly people with chest pain, shortness of breath, stroke, not feeling well with no obvious signs, car accidents. We take a history, do a routine physical, do an EKG, test for glucose, put on a monitor and oximeter and BP cuff, start an IV and then transport to the hospital at the speed necessary depending upon the urgency.
One child swallowed a big candy that probably got stuck in his throat and then passed. We reassured the mother and took the child to the hospital for observation. One 40 year old man had right upper quadrant pain referred to the right flank or perhaps the other way around. He had a low grade fever. We gave him an IV analgesic and the pain went away. He decided not to go to the hospital and was ready to sign a release. When I got the translation, I told him that he needed to come with us for an ultrasound as he either had a gall stone or perhaps a kidney stone and the pain would return in 2 hours. He asked me how sure I was and I answered 100% sure. I guess that my white hair convinced him. He came with us to the hospital. The P-Ms were impressed with my ability to convince him to come for investigation and treatment.
The last patient was a motorcycle accident. My shift had ended but I wanted to go anyways. The fellow was riding a Kawasaki 750 and slid on the pavement. He was wearing a helmet, shorts and a t-shirt. That is the standard dress here for motorcyclists. He had a bad burn on his arms and legs, what we call road rash. He was lucky not to have broken anything. We took him to the hospital for a clean up. I told him that I have had a bike for 50 years and that he should be wearing leather or goretex. Maybe I made an impression on him.
I have visited several hospitols including Tal Eshalon which is ranked 9th best in the world. Very, very impressive especially for a tiny country like Israel. We also picked up a patient from a nursing home/palliative care/rehabilitation center. Wow. I never saw anything like it. It resembled a 5* hotel on hospital on steroids. And this was a public institution! We are really far behind in Canada and have a lot to learn from the Israelis and their standard of care.
I just finished a plate of mergaieze with veggies and a beer. I am listening to Marvin Gaye, the temperature is just right, my mouth is burning from the spice so I will treat myself to another beer, and an apple crumble with ice cream. Why not, I ate virtually nothing today, need to re-vitalize for tomorrow.
Last evening I spent the Passover Seder with Rochelle and her charming family. Passover is usually a happy time for Jews but this year our happiness is subdued due to the ongoing war, the failure of the return of the hostages after 6 months and the problems which we who live in the diaspora are enduring. I never thought that at 74 years of age that I would be volunteering to go to war. Nor did I ever believe that I would witness the antisemitism that we are witnessing in Canada and all over the world. Who are our friends? Who will stand up for us? How have we let these vicious antisemites into our country and why is our prime minister not doing anything? Don’t worry, Mr. JT, an election is coming and there will be a ‘reglement de comptes’. I like the French expression better. What kind of nonsense are they teaching at the universities? How are the students of today so poorly informed about history? At many Passover Seders, a place setting was left empty in memory of the hostages.
Today, being a holiday in Israel, things were very quiet with MDA. I worked a morning shift at the town of Lod. At one point we raced at breakneck speed, 150K to get to patient with bradycardia (a slow heart beat of 40/min). Can you see the dichotomy? We brought him to the hospital on time and saved him . He was originally from Holland, was born in 1940 and came to Israel in 1964. He spoke English fluently. He remembers the liberation of Holland when the Canadians came marching in. My father was stationed in Nijmegen during the war for some time before crossing the Rhine into Germany.
I did emails, laundry and blogging that took some time to catch up. Yesterday I did an evening shift, 3:00 to 11:00 in Yevneh where apparently there is a nuclear plant. The town is very pretty with nice new 10 story apartments. I worked with Dan with whom I have been before. I got a phone call from Moshe, the head of MDA who told me that he would like to do a shift with me as he has never seen anyone get so many ‘good’ cases. Last evening was no exception.
We were called to an apartment to see a 3 year old boy who was having seizures. It was a 4 story walk up and we had to bring all our rather heavy resuscitation equipment. The child was having seizures and so of course was not conscious but breathing ok. We gave him a shot of anti seizure medication which slowed things down. The seizures were due to a fever so we cooled him down with a cold towel. We carried him to the ambulance and I held the oxygen mask on his face for 20 minutes. Once again I was impressed with the efficiency of the service and the kindness with which our team spoke to the parents.
Our next case was a truck vs truck accident. We sped to the scene at break neck speed doing 140K, at 10:00 at night dodging traffic. The motorcycle MDA fellow was there as well as the fire department. There was nothing left of the front of the truck. I don’t know how the man survived. He was pinned between the door and the dash board. The fire men inserted a machine that we would call ‘the jaws of life’. It was a large piston, attached to a generator .It pushed the door open and lifted up the dash. The patient was conscious, not in too much pain and was on his cell phone. We put him onto a stretcher and brought him to the hospital. In no time he had multiple IVs, oxygen, blood tests and x-rays, CT scans. I spoke to the orthopaedic surgeon. The patient was lucky as he only had a simple femur fracture that would require a rod. There were no vascular or neurological complications.
I finished my shift at 11:00, drove back to Tel Aviv which took an hour so they did not give me a shift today. I had not eaten supper so I went to a bar on the beach and had fries and a beer. I watched the end to the Barcelona-Real Madrid soccer game. There was a goal with 2 minutes to go making the score 3-2. There was a lot of cheering so I guess the favourite team won. Tonight I will go to Rochelle’s for the Seder. I told MDA that I didn’t want to do an evening shift today as it would probably be my only chance to do a Seder in Israel although I was invited to one 53 years ago with my friend Arnon.
Love,
Brian
Special forces training, running up a sandy hill in 25C
I worked hard for the last 5 days, hanging on inside of an ambulance, so I decided to take it easy yesterday. I woke up at 8:00, rather late for me, and spent the next few hours catching up on emails and writing my blog. In the early afternoon, I took a walk on the beach for 2 hours. Swimming has been prohibited up until last week. There were signs everywhere but this did not prevent people from going into the water. I would swim out to the breakwater and back, which is a 20 minute swim, on days when the water was calm. On other days, if there were breakers, I would do some body surfing. Yesterday, the life guards were out so the prohibited signs had been removed. Some beaches were black flagged so you could not go in the water there or you would be whistled out. Some beaches are for swimming and others are reserved for surfers, kite surfers and wind surfers. It was blowing 15-18 knots past the breakwater and there were sail boat races. The breakers were coming in, 3-4 feet high. I swam out 100M to where the 16-18 year olds were. They seemed to know the good spots for waves. If you see a wave coming and swim fast, you can catch it just before it breaks. Eventually, it will catch you and break on you. The hard rippling water and thunderous noise as it breaks on you are thrilling.The wave can carry you about 20 feet before it passes over you. It gets to be like a drug, you just have to keep returning for more.
Last evening I was invited to dinner at my cousin Richard’s place in Rehova, 25K from Tel Aviv. We first went to synagogue, a place that I have not been to in 60 years. The service was orthodox, as the women sat separately. There were many English speaking worshipers there from the US and Canada. I recognized many of the hymns and read the English translation. I met Richard’s family for the first time. He came to Israel when he was very young and served in the arm as a tank commander. He has 4 children, 1 of whom is in the army now. Everyone takes the current situation in their stride. This is what living in Israel is all about and you have to just accept it and get on with your daily life.
Yesterday I worked in Richon Lezion, a town near Tel Aviv. One again, after a slow start we ended up being busy all evening. I started my shift at 2:45 and finished tired at 11:00, an evening shift. We got an urgent call while driving in the ambulance. The driver who is also the leading para-medic on the team was a very experienced driver. He put on the siren, Rrrr rrrrr and wey yew, wey yew and wup wup varying the siren and tone at different times. We were in a race against time in a vehicle that drove like a Ferrari. We weaved in and out of the traffic, on the side walk, in between cars, on the mid line, on the opposite side of the road. Cars got out of our way. We hit speeds of 120 in town. I filmed part of the ‘race’ through the wind shield. For the team, this was routine, for me it was really stimulating….!
When we arrived, the motorcycle, the BLS and an ACLS ambulance were already there. The woman, 80 years of age had collapsed on the sidewalk, She had time to call herself an ambulance with her emergency button. We were 12 P-Ms to take care of the patient. We gave her cardiac massage, pumped , intubated, started an IV and gave her Adrenalin several times. We got her back to life, but she re-coded in the ambulance and expired in the hospital. It was a good team effort but at her age, she didn’t have a chance. I was very impressed as usual by the professionalism and the team work. Although we were 12 present, 1 person took charge and everyone else followed instructions. It is amazing how they work together. They are quiet, very fast and very effective. There is no panic. Everyone knows and does their job in the most efficient manner. We could learn a lot from their way of working and handling an emergency. A crowd had gathered on the street to watch us but this in no way distracted the P-Ms
The last call of the evening was a semi emergency. We were called to an apartment where an old, over weight 75 year old man was having trouble breathing. The couple lived in what appeared to be a moderately price building with their son. I was not prepared for what I was about to witness. The entrance to the building was nicely tiled. The elevator was clean. We opened the door to the apartment and the state or the apartment was horrible.
The people were hoarders. There was 3 feet of refuse piled on the floor in the kitchen, living room, dining room, halls and bedrooms. There were bags of clothes, food, broken furniture, lamps, everything that you can and accumulate in 20 years. The patient was sitting on a sofa. I don’t know how he got there. We had to move stuff aside to clear a 1 foot wide path to get to him. 4 of us lifted him onto a wooden chair that we dragged through the stuff to get him out side the apartment and onto a stretcher and into the ambulance.
The man was obese, didn’t speak much, was dressed in sweat pants and a sweat shirt. He had his whole medical file neatly typed out from a previous hospital visit. What was amazing was, in spite of the surroundings, he was clean shaven and relatively clean. He was not dirty in his appearance and did not smell bad, although for protection we all wore masks.
The 2 P-Ms on my team were young girls in their early 20s. 1 was a recent grad, the other was still doing her studies and wanted to finish the army and go into medical school. I had never seen anything like what I had just witnessed. They had! Once again I was amazed by their professionalism. They were not judgemental at all. The patient was a human being in distress. They treated him in a kind, dignified and respectful manner. We did all the usual, cardiogram, oxymeter, blood glucose etc. We made him comfortable. They spoke quietly to him to reassure him. They are very well trained for all types of circumstances. This is their job and they know how to react in an efficient manner.
The whole country functions this way, quiet, no fuss, seemingly easy going but extremely effective. They of course have constant stimulation from their neighbours. I just learned that Israel attacked Iran last night. I think that there will be some excitement here today. I am not worried. We are ready for them.
On 1 of my shifts I met a urologist from Chicago who was also doing a stint with MDA. He is staying in a hotel 100M from my hotel. We arranged to meet for dinner 2 evenings ago. He is vegan and needs a gluten free meal so I let him choose the restaurant. Yes, I even ate at a vegan restaurant!
The restaurant was in the Neve Tsedek area of Tel Aviv. We walked there and sort of got lost on the convoluted streets, passing through the Florentin area. Neve Tsedek is an older area that has been completely renovated. It has upscale restaurants and shops and is more expensive to live in. Florentin is probably what Neve Tsedek used to look like before it got gentrified. The streets are very narrow and the area has 1 cafe and restaurant after another. It caters to the student, young adult and artistic crowd. Usually I don’t like graffiti but this type was really good quality art work. The food at the restaurant was wonderful.
gobriantravel 