Life amid death: Baby born in Israeli field hospital in Haiti
By Natasha Mozgovaya, Haaretz Correspondent, and News Agencies
Amid the tragedy and devastation encompassing the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince since Tuesday's 7.0-magnitude earthquake, a happy event took place Sunday inside the field hospital erected by the Israeli relief delegation in the city. Doctor Shir, who works at Hadassah, delivered the first healthy baby in the Israeli hospital.
The mother told Dr. Shir that she would name her son Israel. "Amid all the death around us," the doctor said, "it is very symbolic." He said that childbirth in impoverished Haiti doesn't normally take place in hospitals, and that this particular woman received the best care from the best doctors.
"She was very quiet," he said. "It wasn't even clear initially that she was in labor."
"It is very exciting," Shir continued. "It offers some small balance to the things that are happening. Life is stronger, after all, and a woman will give birth even if the ground is shaking. This is what maintains the human race. This country has a very high infant mortality rate, and we delivered this healthy baby." ...
For the rest of the article:
http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1143165.html
Showing posts with label MDA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MDA. Show all posts
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Magen David Adom, Tel Aviv
An exposure like no other.
As an active volunteer EMT with MDA Tel Aviv, Israel, I see the inner workings of the city from the streets to people's homes. As a new immigrant in this society, no other experience has so intimately introduced me to the city and the country as a whole. It provides me with a unique cultural exposure by entering peoples homes across all strata of society.
With much of the "clientele" being elderly, this has given me a great opportunity to learn their amazing stories. This is the generation who escaped the persecutions of Europe and elsewhere in the world and established this country.
For example, this last Sunday during my shift on the intensive care ambulance, we took an 87 year old woman to the hospital with chest pain and other irregularities. On the way, I was responsible for monitoring her status as closely as possible. One of the best ways I have learned to do that is just by talking conversationally.
Captivating my imagination, she told me of her journey through British displaced persons camps in Cyprus as a Holocaust refugee from Poland. Glaring at the wrinkled blue tattoo of still legible numbers in the center of her forearm, what she described to me was the long story short. She came through the flames and built this place from scratch.
This incredible generation is, sadly and inevitably, being taken to the hospital by day and night more than I'd like to admit. I am profoundly grateful for my exposure to their lives and stories, and realize that this is an opportunity that will not exist for my children.
The stories and experiences must live on through us.
More on this to be posted soon...
As an active volunteer EMT with MDA Tel Aviv, Israel, I see the inner workings of the city from the streets to people's homes. As a new immigrant in this society, no other experience has so intimately introduced me to the city and the country as a whole. It provides me with a unique cultural exposure by entering peoples homes across all strata of society.
With much of the "clientele" being elderly, this has given me a great opportunity to learn their amazing stories. This is the generation who escaped the persecutions of Europe and elsewhere in the world and established this country.
For example, this last Sunday during my shift on the intensive care ambulance, we took an 87 year old woman to the hospital with chest pain and other irregularities. On the way, I was responsible for monitoring her status as closely as possible. One of the best ways I have learned to do that is just by talking conversationally.
Captivating my imagination, she told me of her journey through British displaced persons camps in Cyprus as a Holocaust refugee from Poland. Glaring at the wrinkled blue tattoo of still legible numbers in the center of her forearm, what she described to me was the long story short. She came through the flames and built this place from scratch.
This incredible generation is, sadly and inevitably, being taken to the hospital by day and night more than I'd like to admit. I am profoundly grateful for my exposure to their lives and stories, and realize that this is an opportunity that will not exist for my children.
The stories and experiences must live on through us.
More on this to be posted soon...
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