מד''א-MDA Talk

This is pretty much what I said at the tekes for those interested...

Hi everyone. I’m Lisa for those of us who haven’t met and I was asked to speak a little about the MDA experience.

This summer we lived from shift to shift and call to call, perhaps not realizing how fast this experience was actually going by. We all came here with different reasons in mind. Some of us wanted to try something new. Some of us were looking for any reason at all to be in Israel. And of course there are those of us who are med school hopefuls and are trying to build up those ridiculous resumes. Regardless of the reason for volunteering with MDA, we have all gained knowledge that exceeded our expectations.

For me, it was during one overnight shift when we received a call to the jail. We arrived and a guard escorted us from the front of the station to the holding cells around the back. Just being in the jail was an experience in itself. It was hot, smelled of urine, and was just all around disgusting. We got to the back and there was a man sitting in a chair in apparent distress. He was breathing fast, sweating, and saying that he was having stabbing chest pains. So I began to think that this guy was having a heart attack. Next I was asked to take his blood pressure and I was surprised—it was normal. We gave him oxygen and our driver decided to call for a natan, but just before he did he whispered to us, “it’s HY, hyperventilation”. The natan team came in and they decided to take him to the hospital to be safe. Now all of a sudden the policemen were getting angry because they realised that they were now going to have accompany us to the hospital. And that’s when one of them yelled, “why are you taking him, he’s a rapist, and raped someone today”.

After I heard that I couldn’t look at him again as if he was just any other patient. I know that we are supposed to treat everyone the same regardless of the situation, but in that moment I hesitated and was just relieved that he wasn’t going to be in my ambulance. We saw this man a couple hours later at the hospital and indeed he was just fine. That night definitely gave me some perspective and the next time I found myself treating a drunk driver who had just carelessly crashed into four cars, it was much easier to put my own feelings aside.

That’s what these last few weeks have been about, a time for firsts. We handled our first CPRs, car accidents, heart attacks, strokes, deaths, and on the opposite spectrum--births. Each time, having to seem knowledgeable despite it being the first time we were witnessing events like these in our lives. We got to take part in situations that few people have ever experienced, not to mention people our age.
To whichever country you return to, you are returning with an unbelievably unique experience. They told us that there are approximately 600 participants in the MDA Chul program each year. I’m sure many of us have been in a university class that’s bigger than that, but in Israel, that number is huge. Our time here has given us insight, and one day will be prepared for a situation directly because of what we learned here. Even if we didn’t have ‘life saving’ calls and found ourselves doing transports each day, the experience was a humbling one. We’ve now seen people at some of their worst and most undignified times and it’s got to have affected us somehow, even if we’ve just discovered that we never want to grow old or don’t want to give birth after all.

There are many people that have worked really hard to keep this opportunity open to us and who we must thank.

First; Aryeh and Almog. They have gone to no end, coordinating everything. Consecutive courses, applications, emails, and much much more. Although our session will end, for them the work never does. And let’s face it we’re not the easiest group of people to please.

Then there are all of our Madrichim. They taught us well while passing on their enthusiasm for MDA at the same time. Many of them are volunteering just like us and it’s because of them that some of us cringe at nesiya regalias and smile with excitement when the moked says dachuf.

There are also many people, who we didn’t meet. Coordinators at stations across the country and within the Yochai Porat Overseas Program, that have worked just as hard to make this a reality.

To everyone involved—thank you.

At this point, we have all been here for at least 6 weeks. With the MDA experience in hand we are returning home feeling more confident in Israel than ever before. We spoke, or at least listened to the language, figured out the buses, and ate our share of shwarma and falafel. It’s rare to have an opportunity to ‘try out’ almost every aspect of a new society, but that’s exactly what we got to do. Perhaps your time here has inspired you to come back again and if not that’s okay too. But it is definitely a great feeling to be comfortable in the country we can call home if we ever do choose.

Finally, I’m sure I can’t be the only one who’s had the following experience. You’re in the back of the ambulance talking to a patient and they notice your not so Israeli accent. They ask you where you’re from and you reply. Then they ask if you’re an oleh hadash or something like that and you explain; you’re just here volunteering for the summer. To that they reply, kol-hakavod lecha. Maybe this also happened when you were on the bus, or walking home from your shift still in uniform. Wherever it did, just realise that you deserve each and every compliment. Because kol-hakavod MDA Chul, we are all doing something to be proud of this summer.