Co-Exist?

I started my nursing lectures this week for pediatrics and it is really cool to be taking classes at a nursing school abroad. The nursing school for Hebrew U is connected in the hospital, so when we learn something during our lectures we can just walk over to the hospital and look at an example. We learned how to do physical examinations of newborns yesterday, right after we went up to a nursery and our instructor showed us how to do and exam on a baby that was born 2 hours before we got there. I LOVE babies.

I love being in nursing school because of the genuine and trusting human interactions I can have with anyone, it doesn’t matter their race, gender, or religious affiliation. I had witnessed this first hand in Philly, working with a wide range of patients, many who are extremely different from me. Working with people in such an intimate way really lets you learn so much about different people and to learn to love them no matter their background.  Hospitals really make bridges for peace, because the goal is to heal people not hurt. I don’t know what I expected to experience when I came to do clinical rotations here, but I am so impressed by the hospital I am doing clinical rotations-Hadassah Ein Kerem. Every employee speaks Arabic, Hebrew, and most speak English. All patients get the same level of care and there is no real segregation of treatment or placement in hospitals based on Ethnicity or socio-economic background. The nature of the Israel-Palestine conflict is very polarizing and in some places, the tension is strong. So far, in the hospital I haven’t felt any tensions and people seem to get along just fine. While being given a tour of a pediatric oncology floor I saw little kids of both backgrounds getting along, playing, and being treated in open rooms adjacent to each other. In Israel there are separate schools, neighborhoods, etc. for Palestinians and Israelis, which makes an environment where the “other” seems so much more foreign, dangerous, or un-human. The interaction these kids have with each other in the hospital I think makes everyone realize that we are all humans and we all struggle, especially in the pediatric oncology unit where the bully is death of uncontrollable reproducing cells- not violence. Humanizing someone perceived as an enemy is the best way to really understand him/her. The only way you can really do that is by trying to understand them and trying to be empathetic towards them. I am really excited for my future clinical rotations here; I have a feeling I am going to learn a lot. I am really lucky to be here.

Famous Chagall Windows in the synagogue of En Kerem

More Chagall Windows

On another note about nursing- I self-diagnose myself with every disease I am learning about in classes. I just got out of a lecture about congenital heart failure in babies. I am now convinced that I have/had a congenital heart problem. Next week I'll probably have scoliosis, don't worry.

Another positive note- my commute is an hour each-way to the hospital. I have been reading on the way and I have been going through books like crazy. Feel free to give me reading suggestions.

This weekend I am going to an Orthodox Shabbat Dinner, running a 10K, and hopefully going to Bethlehem to get a cooking lesson. Life is good J.