Last ambulance shift: Wed, March 24 & graduation ceremony: Thurs March 25
I apologize for the lack of updates. The past few days I haven’t had any access to internet nor a computer. I am now sitting back in Kiryat Ono, and I will write all of my adventures from the past few days.
Wednesday March 24
Today was my last day in Haifa, and my last ambulance shift. I was actually woken up by a frightened Danielle who screamed in her sleep from a nightmare about a tailess cat. Since I was up already (around 5:30), I decided to take a hot shower before work.
I was stationned at Nosh ( I was originally supposed to be at Tira, but they switched the schedule around, as usual..). My driver was Ofer (he was awesome), and the bat shirut was Aosnat. They were both really sweet. There was a bit of drama in the morning- for two days in a row we heard drivers complaining about being stationned with the “Americans”. I thought it was so rude to say these things, especially in front of us. Not only have we taken the course and have been at the station for a month working with them already, we have proved ourselves as being responsible, effective, and just as capable as the others working on the ambulances. More over, we came out of our free will to help and give back to Israel, and then that’s how they treat us? We were all very insulted.
The day wasn’t so exciting- the morning started off quite slow. Our first call was in Kriyot, in a beautiful apartment complex. Aosnat said that this was the nicest apartment she’s ever had for a call. A heavy middle aged man wasn’t feeling well. We took his blood sugar level, and it was very low. We also took his blood pressure, but the cuff didn’t fit properly around. He managed to come onto the ambulance without us pushing or lifting him ( I think Ofer was grateful for that). I think he had some sort of virus and just wasn’t feeling well. His whole family was concerned. His wife joined us, and we brought them to Rambam, where he was attended to.
Our second call came in the afternoon. It was at a mall with a clinic in it. Ofer got into a bit of an argument with a pedestrian- it was quite funny watching how the Israelis argue and yell at each other over such silly things. When we got to the clinic, an older woman wasn’t feeling well and had chest pain. She was there with her sweet bridge buddies, who she consulted on which hospital she should go to. Ofer flirted with them a bit, and I could tell they loved getting the attention from a young man. Once she decided, we headed to the Carmel hospital, where she was attended to. I sat with her in the back and spoke with her to keep her calm, and gave her oxygen.
And those were my two calls. When we got back to the main station, the whole Haifa crew took pictures together with our favorite drivers and the ambulances before we said our goodbyes.
Once we got back to the apartment, we started packing. Seeing it was our last night in Haifa, we decided to all go out together to the Carmel center for dinner. We ended up going quite late to Japanika for sushi, where we had to wait to be seated for quite a while. When we got our table, I ordered sushi and miso soup, and it was great. We spent the night together relaxing and enjoying each others’ company. We caught the last bus back at around 11:30pm, and then went straight to bed, seeing we were all so exhausted.
Thursday March 25
The next morning, we got up around 10:00. It was so nice to sleep in! hehehe. Today we had to make our way to Tel Aviv for our graduation ceremony. Sharon and Danielle were taking the bus/train to Tel Aviv in the morning. We went to the bakery around the corner one last time for breakfast, seeing that we had no food left. I was so fortunate to have Marcie offer to pick me up with all my luggage on Thursday. Once Danielle and Sharon left, it was just me in the little apartment in Haifa. I can honestly say that I was not sad leaving, but I was sad that my experience in Haifa came to an end. (I will write a post later on with my reflections of my experiences.) Marcie arrived at around 1:45pm with little Honey. We packed my things into the car and headed to Kiryat Ono to drop off my big bags. We drove along the coast which was beautiful, and got into a bit of traffic. We arrived there a while later, dropped off my big bags, then headed to TA for the MADA ceremony.
After driving around TA, we finally came upon the station. I brought along a bag with some spare clothes, and all the cooking things that we needed for the weekend. Danielle and I stayed at Sharon’s apartment in Holon until Sunday. It was such a change from Haifa! We really appreciated her opening her doors to us.
Everyone was already at the station (pretty much), and we started the ceremony shortly after. It was quite informal. They gave us a little certificate saying we passed the course and volunteering session, and that we are certified EMT first aid responders. They actually spelled my name wrong, so I gave them back the certificate and they will send me a new one in the mail. There was a light snack after with sandwhiches, fruits, and some pastries. We were able to catch up with some of the other volunteers, exchange stories and experiences, and just have some fun. It was nice seeing everyone after our volunteering sessions.
We left the MADA station and then caught the bus back to Holon to drop our things off. Once we got there, Sharon Danielle and I all cuddled up in Sharons bed and watched some TV before we forced ourselves to go out. We were a bit lazy, but once we got up and headed out, we were happy we did. We caught the 1 bus back to TA, and went to a 24 hour coffee shop. We were planning on meeting some of the TA people, and then stumbled into other people from the program who joined us as well. It was a really fun night. By the time we left, we looked at our watches, and it said it was 3:30am, which none of us beleived… but we then realized that it was day lights saving! We caught a taxi back to Holon, and fell asleep right away, seeing we’d have to wake up early Friday morning…
~sjjt xo
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