First Time Driver

Last night we had a closing ceremony in Jerusalem in which our class, MDA 105 and the current class, MDA 106, who is still in their training were invited for a night of speeches and free stuff. MDA 105 got framed certificates, MDA pins, hats and backpacks. It was a great time to see other volunteers and swap stories. I found that being at one of the smaller stations had a lot of privileges others didn't. I'm able to get to know the drivers, work regularly on an Atan, work 5 shifts a week and the morning shifts have been set aside for our program volunteers. I heard that this was not the case with many of the other stations. So what I give up in having less calls each day, I more than gain in the perks of a small station. After the ceremony we made our way back to the train station in Tel Aviv. On the highway just outside of Jerusalem there was a multi-car accident which was slowing down traffic. We mused about if we should all unload from the bus and see if we could be of some help. You just get this itch when you see something like that. You want to go and help. When we were going by it looked like the MDA units on scene had it taken care of, we even saw the guy pictured above working the scene. Once in Tel Aviv we had sometime to get food and then catch the last train to Akko and arrived about 1:30am. By the time I got home and got ready for today it had to have been after 2am.

The 5:21am wake up call was a little too close to the 2am going to bed time so when I met Emily at the bus station I told her no calls until 10am. When we got to the station a driver was sleeping in the volunteer room so we took our queue and found our own sleeping spots, Emily on a couch and me on a thin mattress on the ground. I got my wish of no calls until after 10am. The first call on the Atan ended up getting canceled before we left the parking spot. I then settled in and read for awhile as Emily went on a variety of calls on the Ragil. Finally after lunch a Ragil call came in while Emily and the other Ragil crew were out so our crew was off to a clinic, that I had been to before, to pick up a middle aged guy who was in some pain from some kind of surgery. All we could do for him was give him some oxygen and get him to the hospital in Haifa as fast as possible. The best part of the call was when I had been instructed to get a hospital bed from one side of the ER and bring it through a narrow office area to the other side so we could transfer our patient. I hadn't really ever wielded a hospital bed like this and it was a very narrow space. I wasn't doing too bad until BAM! I just rock the edge of a desk someone was working at. I think the impact was hard enough to actually move the desk a little bit. Mercifully a hospital worker took the side I slammed into the desk and helped me guide it past the rest of the work station. Slicha guys, first time driver coming through. :)