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Israel 2026-07

Israel 6,

July 9, 2026,

Hi Everyone,

Today was a rather slow day with MDA. However, every case is a new experience and there is always something to learn with each case.

The 1st case involved a 45 year old patient in a terrible situation. We were called to a residence where the patient was living. He had had a cardiac arrest either due to an arythmia or an MI. He was resuscitated but woke up with severe neurological damage. He had major extremity contractions and could not speak. He has some understanding of what was going on. He appeared to be septic either from a urinary tract infection or due to bed sores. His wife and 2 sisters were present and were extremely supportive of the patient. They could not reconcile with the situation and believed that the patient would improve with time. We did the usual bedside analysis and transported him to hospital.

The 2nd case involved a 20 year old man in a supportive care facility. He had been sexually aggressed at the age of 16 and could not get over the memory. From time to time he would have non epileptic seizures brought on by a stressful situation. We stood by him, protecting his head from injury during the seizure. On awakening he explained the situation to us. He was quite intelligent and was studying to be a social worker. We were both born on Aug. 24 which is a very rare date to have a birthday.

The 3rd case was a fire in an abandoned building. The fire dept. was there with hoses spraying a flame retardant liquid on the building. They then entered the building to ensure that there was no one present inside. There were several fire trucks, police and ambulances present. We found no one in the building but took pictures to explain the excitement.

The 4th case was of a 15 year old girl, in a school with a known history of violence. The chief allowed the young female paramedic in training to handle the situation. Alone in the room with the patient for ½ hour, she was able to convince the patient to come with us by talking quietly with assurance to the young girl. Although the police were there for support if necessary, they were not called upon to intervene.

I returned to my hotel at around 500 and went for my usual swim and run.

Love,

Brian

Israel 2026-07

Israel 5.

July 8, 2026,

Hi Everyone,

I am at La Mer restaurant on the beach waiting to be served my salad and beer for the evening. After last nights victory of Argentina over Egypt in the last seconds of the game, everything else today seems to be a denouement.

My 2nd day with MDA today was rather routine. We had 3 or 4 calls that were cancelled on the way to the incident. Our 1st call of importance involved a middle aged male experiencing tachycardia. He walked into a government clinic resembling our CLSCs but much more equipped to handle minor to major cases, before calling an ambulance. The patient felt unwell and was found to have a pulse of 212 and a mildly elevated BP. He was sweating profusely but without chest pain. We diagnosed sinus tachycardia, started an IV, gave him 2 doses of adenosine and combined with a valsava manoeuvre, managed to get his pulse back down to 90. Had we been unsuccessful, and had he been unstable, we would have done a cardioversion and intubation if necessary in the ambulance. As usual everything proceeded efficiently with a well trained MDA staff. We transferred the patient to a hospital and learned that he had been discharged later in the day after seeing a cardiologist.

For the 2nd case we were called to a construction site where a worker had been injured. He had fallen backwards and reported pain in his hip. He had not lost consciousness. The white ambulance paramedics had already placed the patient on a back board and installed a neck collar for precaution. We walked up 5 stories, 3 flights of stairs for each story. We had to climb over several barriers. The paramedics carried up the equipment including a back board, an EKG cardioversion machine, a bag of medications and various other tools. I was happy to be able to carry myself up without help.

We re-examined the patient, changed the back board for a better one and placed him on a stretcher. He was totally immobilized. We then called the fire department who arrived with a hook and ladder truck. We placed the patient on a platform and lowered him 5 stories to our ambulance waiting below. We ran down the stairs to meet the stretcher and placed him in the ambulance. There must have been a dozen firemen, paramedics and other assistants present. Our chief paramedic took charge and quietly organized the rescue gaining the respect of all present by his efficient attitude and his know how. It was really fun and impressive to watch.

Our last case of the day was a small child who had vomited and had diarrhea. He was possibly mildly dehydrated. It was the parents1st child so the mother was notably concerned. We transported the child to an children’s hospital for observation.

I swam to the breakwater and then ran 5k. 2 17 year old fellows ran with me for half the distance. They were impressed that I was working as a volunteer with MDA. They asked me numerous questions about antisemitism in Canada. When you go to hospitals here, and to universities you observe how much the diaspora has donated to Israel to support the country. Our names are seen everywhere as donors. When Oct. 7 occurred, I knew that the world would support Israel for 2 weeks. Israel had to end the war in 3 weeks or lose support. The war has dragged on for various reasons for over 2 years. Israel has lost the propaganda war and we, living if the diaspora are paying the consequences with the unprecedented rise in antisemitism not seen since the 1930s. Israel must do more to support the diaspora or risk losing its support. Qatar spends billions of dollars to support American universities and turn the tide of support against Israel. Israel must find a way to counter act this growing problem.

Love,

Brian

Israel 2026-06

Israel 4,

July 7, 2026,

Hi Everyone,

Today I did my 1st shift on an MDA ambulance. The day started off slowly and ended up even slower. I was with a very good team so the shift was fun anyway. One of the paramedics was doing his last year of training. He had already done his 3 years of military service and then spent 2 years travelling around the world. He is hoping to get into medical school the following year.

The 1st call was reported to us as a drowning. While racing along to the beach, the call was cancelled as the would be patient started swimming. The 2nd call was for a lady unconscious but breathing and lying on the street. On the way to the scene, the call was cancelled as the lady woke up and walked away.

The 3rd call was a terrible tragedy. We were called to one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in Tel Aviv. The house was a beautiful white bungalow on a large property that was in the process of being renovated. We were told that a young 22 year old man was unconscious on the floor. The family had not seen him since the evening before. When we arrived it was obvious the man was dead and had been dead for several hours as rigor mortis had already set in. There was a computer with several screens on the desk and empty bottles of psychiatric medications near by. The young man was a Muslim and in service with the IDF. His father was away on business, apparently a CEO of well known bank. The police, 2 motorcycle ambulances, a white BLS ambulance and us in a yellow MICU ambulance were all present but there was nothing to be done except to pronounce him as deceased. I can say no more. We were all saddened by the apparent suicide.

The 4th call evolved an elderly woman living in a hospice. She had a severe history of cardiac disease and had had a stroke in the past. Her medical history, type written on 3 pages was given to us. We made the initial diagnosis of septic shock and did the appropriate management, IV fluids, epinephrine, history and physical exam, etc. She appeared to improve in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. On arrival, she was transferred to the hospital stretcher, placed in an ER room and had medical attention with physicians and nurses immediately. In Israel, I have always been impressed with the efficiency of the medical system when we bring a patient to the hospital.

The last call at 3:00 just as our shift was ending was a psychotic patient who had stabilized so the call was cancelled.

I returned to my hotel and went down to the beach. There were 1meter waves making swimming difficult. I swam ¾ of the way to the breakwater and back twice. Going out any farther would have been dangerous. The life guards were whistling people in if they swam out too far. I then ran 5k on the beach in less than 44 min.

I took a short nap and then went to La Mer restaurant to eat and watch the Egyptian – Argentina game. The place was packed with chairs and tables extending out onto the sandy beach. There were at least 1000-2000 fans present. Everyone was routing for Argentina especially after the incident which occurred after Egypt won their last game. The Egyptian coach ran onto the field after the win with a Palestinian flag saying that the team had won the game for Palestine. Politics are not supposed to be allowed at World Cup tournaments, but the incident was ignored by the refs. Egypt erected a huge high wall between Gaza and Egypt to keep the Palestinians out. I guess that he forgot about that wall. The restaurant was dead silent after Egypt took the lead with 2 goals. I was still hopeful that Mesi would prevail with goals. He did not disappoint us. In the closing minutes of the match, Argentina took the lead with 3 goals winning the match. The place went wild with everyone celebrating and congratulating each other. What a win!!

I struck up a conversation with a gentleman sitting beside me at the table. His name is Mikolaj Zalasinski and is a famous opera singer. He has been invited all over the world to be the lead singer in several operas. He will be singing in the opera, Tosca in the Tel Aviv opera house. He will try to get me invited as a guest. They have been practicing for several weeks. I love opera and will be very excited if he can get me a ticket. He was very impressed that I wrote a book about Israel. Apparently, his grandmother is Jewish.

Love,

Brian

Israel 2026-06

Israel 3,

July 6, 2026,

I slept for 8.5 hours so I think that I am all caught up from sleep deprivation from the time change and my 36 hour voyage from hell. As they say, no pain, no gain.

Last evening I wandered over to Mike’s one of my favourite brasseries on the beach. It was a warm 23C with a cool breeze, just right to have a beer, in a pub, with the Med in the background, and watch the Norway-Brazilian football World Cup match. I was at a table with a family of Brazilians who had made Aliyah to Israel many years ago. They were very friendly and expressive but unfortunately it did not help their team win the match.

At the Maxim Hotel, you are free to sit at almost any table as the hotel caters to volunteers. I played ‘Jewish geography’ with a lady who was originally from Montreal and now lives in Toronto. She grew up in the CDN and CSL areas and we had many common acquaintances. I then spoke at length with a lady originally from South Africa and who now lives in Australia.

I spent the rest of the afternoon on the beach doing my usual activities. I am really a beachcomber at heart. In my spare time there is nothing more that I would like to do. I am not really very intellectual at heart. I was 30C with a slight breeze and only the occasional 2 foot breaker. I swam to the breakwater, 500m there and back with ease. The life guards must be getting used to me swimming out that far as they didn’t whistle me in. I didn’t hear a whistle anyway and I was the only one out swimming that far. I then jogged 5k on the beach knocking off 2 min from my time yesterday. If I continue at this rate I will be down to 0 in 3 weeks which is impossible if you do the math.

I bought a Magnum ice cream bar at 3:30 and got so excited by the prospect of eating an ice cream on the beach, that I got carried away and dropped my credit card on the sand. A ‘kid’ picked it up and spent 135 shekels ($65) before I could cancel it. It must have been a kid, as a pro would have made an attempt to empty my bank account. The store got the thief on their camera and I will review it later in the week. I don’t know if they have ‘wanted dead or alive’ posters here.

I am at the La Mer Restaurant overlooking the beach eating my 1st solid meal in 3 days. I really have not been hungry and except for breakfast, have only consumed liquids. There is a live band here to encourage me as I devour a margarita pizza and a local Maccabi draft beer.

Tomorrow, I will do my first shift with MDA so you can expect a full account of my cases.

Love,

Brian

Israel 2026-06

Israel 2,

July 5, 2026,

Hi Everyone,

I never had so many missed flights and cancellations on 1 trip. In the end I flew from Paris to Vienna and then onward to Tel Aviv, arriving at 5:00 am on Sunday having being in transit for 36 hours door to door. That is a record for me that I hope not to duplicate in future voyages. The stop overs through Rome or Athenes were cancelled along the way as I kept missing connections. I was lucky however, as the flights were not over booked. I easily found 3 seats together on 2 of the flights so I was able to stretch out and sleep.

I picked up a car at the airport but didn’t want to open the phone to use the GPS as that would have been expensive without an Israeli SIM card. I have forgotten my way around Tel Aviv so I wandered around on different street until I found the road along the sea. From there it was an easy hop, skip and a jump to my hotel. I now have an Israeli SIM card with an Israeli phone number but the same email address.

The hotel Maxim staff greeted me warmly on my arrival. This morning I walked around Dizengoff Sq and presented myself to several bookshops. They suggested that I contact the manager on the website to sell my book. Back at the hotel, Saeed, the manager of the hotel, and I worked on making a short advertising note for my Swords of Iron book which will be placed on the Maxim Hotel website.

It was a little cloudy in the morning until the sun broke through the clouds leaving a few wispy ones in its place. It was 30 C with a slight warm breeze. The water was warm and there were 1.5m waves. Much of the beach was black flagged with certain areas open for swimming and surfing. I did some body surfing and then swam out to the breakwater, 250m off shore. I was the only swimmer who ventured that far from shore. I then did my 1st 5k run of the season along the beach. Even though it was rather hot, the breeze and the proximity to the water made the run rather pleasant.

Love,

Brian

Israel 2026-06

Israel 1,

July 4, 2026,

Hi Everyone,

No matter where I want to travel, I always seem to have problems at the airport. This time is no exception.

I am going to Israel to volunteer as a physician/paramedic on a Magan David Adom (ADM) ambulance. This is the 3rd time that I am doing this in 3 years since the start of the Swords of Iron War. 2 years ago MDA accepted 150 volunteers mostly from the US with a few from Canada. Last year, I believe that only 2 were accepted and this year I think that I am the only one. This is probably due to the fact that I know Vicki personally. She is in charge of the volunteers and has been instrumental in finding me a place on an ambulance.

Once again, I will be staying at the Maxim Hotel on Hayarkon St across the street from the sea. Most of the volunteers stay at the hotel while in Tel Aviv. There are large round tables in the dinning room and you are free to sit at any table and introduce yourself. “Hi, my name is Brian, I am from Canada.” It sounds a lot like AA where you introduce yourself by saying: “Hi, my name is Brian, I am an alcoholic.” I think that alcohol and volunteering in Israel both become highly addictive.

I originally had a flight from Montreal to Tel Aviv with a stop over in Paris for 5 hours. The flight was supposed to leave at 5:00 pm but was cancelled. I usually don’t like to fly to Europe late in the afternoon, as it robs you of a night sleep and you arrive early in the morning sleep deprived. The flight was reschedule for 10:30 and then 11:30. I was able to obtain 3 seats in a row so I stretched out to sleep for the trip. Knowing that I would miss the corresponding flight to Tel Aviv, I was rebooked on a plane to Athenes and then to Tel Aviv.

I was woken up 1 hour later for dinner. The food was pretty good and I had a small bottle of red and a sleeping pill. I like to fly with Air France because they offer a glass of champagne as an apero. Unfortunately the glass slid on the table spilling half of the glass. I will be more careful next time.

I arrived in Paris late, just in time to see my corresponding flight to Athens take off. I am now booked on a plane to Vienna with a correspondence to Tel Aviv, arriving at 5:00 am, 14 hours later that my original itinerary. If everything else goes as planned, door to door, I will have travelled for 35 hours.

Oh well, tomorrow is another day. I was hoping to see the Canada – Morocco game in Tel Aviv but will obviously miss it. Perhaps I can catch up with the news in the airport.

Love,

Brian

Whistler 2026-03

Whistler 8,

April 4, 2026,

Hi Everyone,

This morning I spent a few hours putting the finishing touches on my book, Swords or Iron, Israel at War, a Canadian Surgeon’s Perspective. I will meet with my editor on Monday and hope to have the book published in 2 weeks.

We met Antoine at Starbucks for a coffee and then drove out to the University of British Columbia. The university is situated on a huge piece of protected land on the coast, west of the city. The campus is absolutely beautiful. The Museum of Anthropology is situated on the campus. We spent a few hours there looking at native art from B.C. and other places around the world. There is a large collection of totem poles both in the museum and on the campus. We also visited the concert hall.

We ate dinner with Antoine and Julia at their appartment this evening. We fly to Montreal tomorrow morning.

Love,

Brian

Whistler 2026-03

Whistler 7,

April 3, 2026,

Hi Everyone,

Last evening we were guests of Antoine and Julia at a fondue restaurant. The food was great. I love to dip bread crusts into cheese fondue.

Today was cloudy and foggy but in spite of the poor visibility, the snow conditions were exceptional. We started the day at Blackcomb and took the Peak to Peak gondola to Whistler at noon where we did a few runs and them stopped for lunch. Our group consisted of 5 skiers all about the same level. Everyone skis faster than me on the intemediate trails but I am able to hold my my own on steep, powdery, tree, glade, trails with big moguls. That seems to be my speciality. Antoine takes good care of me, never letting me out of his sight when we are on expert double diamond terrain. Often he will ski behind me to play ‘clean up’ in case I get into trouble.

Tonight Dominique and I went out to eat at a high end Italian restaurant not far from the Sheraton where we are staying.

Love,

Brian

Whistler 2026-03

Whistler 6,

April 2, 2026,

Hi Everyone,

Last evening was the beginning of passover so we had a mini seder. I tried in vain to buy matzah in Whistler but non of the groceries even knew what matzah is. Antoine looked up ‘how to make your own matzah’ on the internet and found a great recipe. He made the best matzah that I had ever eaten.

Today was a cloudy day with fog at the top of the mountain. Visibility was poor. The snow conditions consisted of heavy, heavy broken powder from the night before. It was very tiring on the thighs. Nevertheless we managed do 13,000 vertical feet which is what we usually do. We did a couple of steep tree runs with moguls and that is where we found the best snow.

Later we met up with the girls in the village and I had a spicy margarita. We are going to out for cheese fondu this evening.

Love,

Brian

Whistler 2026-03

Whistler 5,

April 1, 2026,

Hi Everyone,

We awoke to wet snow this morning at the base which quickly changed to better wet snow at the top of the mountain. Visiblity was poor in the middle of the mountain but seemed clearer at the top. I snowed lightly all day. We met up with Chris, Julia’s cousin and skied with him for the day. We took the Blackcomb Goncola up to the Glacier chair and then the t-bar to the top to the glacier. We then had to climb about 150 metres to get to the glacier. The first time I did it with much heavy breathing. The second time, Chris acted as my sherpa. He took my skies and I took his poles. I obviously got the better deal.

We saw one 2-3 year old kid do a difficult entry to the glacier with ease and the continued down the hill with his father. We all stood there in awe. The ski down was great. If you chose a good line, you could do most of the descent in unbroken or broken powder. At he end of the day we had our usual pizza with beer at the Handlebar Bar.

Love,

Brian