Back to Reality

Tuesday, June-29-10

So, I think I just learned what may become an important Mda lesson. Not every shift is going to be as memorable as my last one. Today started out very similar to yesterday. Got to sleep in and then headed to the station at about 2:15pm. I know we are told not to make pre-emptive judgements, but from the beginning of the shift I had the feeling it was going to be a long night. We got to the Merkaz station (our first time here) and the receptionist told us to go around to the back, where we would find our ambulance. We walk around and surely see an ambulance with a driver and a medic in the passenger and driver seats. We go an introduce ourselves, say our names, that we will be with them this shift, and ask if the ambulance check needs to be done. What do we get in return....a ‘no’ to checking the ambulance and a that`s about it. No names, no hello, nothing. Great, I’m thinking it’s going to be a long day, but hopefully we will at least get some interesting calls. We wait around at the station for a bit, them not saying much of a word to us, and we finally get our first call. A car accident—sweet (well not sweet, but I hope you know what I mean). Get there in about 3min and see that everyone is fine. The cars aren’t damaged and after exchange plate numbers etc. the drivers of the cars end up leaving the scene before us, paperwork work of course. Next call is to an elderly man who is having trouble breathing. Get to the scene and see the he is already on oxygen at home and called because he is feeling worse than usual. Apparently for this call a נט''ן –Natan (ICU ambulance) had also been called and once they got there they ‘politely’ made it clear to us that they had the situation under control and that we could leave. So much for action. Now we’re back at the station, and yes it’s still weirdly awkward between us and the medics, when we get our next call. A transfer to the hospital. Don’t think I’ve looked at my watch so many times since I’ve arrived in Israel. It was an easy transfer (this time the building had an elevator) and now it was about 7pm (seriously still another 4 hours in this shift) and we were getting hungry. We stopped to get some sandwiches at Aroma and while eating in the car we get our next call. A lady needs help getting her shirt off. Yes, this was exactly was dispatch read, I wish I was joking. Not so much to our surprise that call got cancelled within about 1min and at least it brought some laugher into our awesome atmosphere in the ambulance. Now we’re back at the station (hoping to wait out the remainder of our shift) and we call our final call. All the way to Bat Yam. Now I realise ‘all the way’ is never far in Israel, but I still don’t understand exactly why we were the ones to respond. I guess that’s just the way it is. The call is for an elderly lady with back pain, maybe kidney stones. We arrive and learn that she was at the hospital last week and she tells us they sent her home too early. When we ask her which hospital she wants to go to she specifically states that she HAS to go to Wolfson (a hospital). Why—to get back at the doctors for sending her home early. Surely enough when we get to the hospital all of a sudden she becomes this moany and sickly patient, it was a nice performance. At this point in the day I just walked away laughing and thinking, ‘at least we don’t have to deal with her anymore’.
That would be the end of that evening shift. Although the driver & medic were painful to work with all day (they just didn’t give us any respect) they were nice enough to driver us back to our homes at the end of the night. Tomorrow is Wednesday and my day off. Really looking forward to maybe getting to the beach in the afternoon and in the evening the 11 of us stationed in Tel-Aviv are getting together for dinner, hanging out, and making our schedule for the week to come. Should be a nice break and give me some time to put this shift behind me.