The Light at the End of the Tunnel (and a few spots along the way)…by blogger of the month Ross Green

Hello again! I’d first like to apologize for my lack of consistency in posting this month. Like I’m sure I’ve said a few dozen times before, finals are REALLY soon now! Last Thursday we completed our Bacteriology (I guess that’s what that quiz was…) quiz for the semester, and starting a week from today we have our other 5 exams! To add to the hectic feeling right now (‘tis the reason, right?!), we have group presentations in our Introduction to Global Health course this week, 2 Microbiology lab reports to complete, and Global Health module presentations to present as well! On a lighter note, there were also entertaining things that occurred this past week and a half as well, I promise!

About a week and a half ago 5 of my classmates and I decided to try something new on a Thursday night. We hopped in a couple of cabs, took the usual 22 shekel ride over to the BIG, and played some pool (or Snooker as they call it here in Israel). I must say, we had a great time! We had a few beers, played a few rounds, and basically just spent a few hours unwinding from the stressful week that we were finally able to put behind us! I’m not sure if it was because we were in Be’er Sheva, or Israel just has its own rules, but the balls we played with were much smaller than we were used to AND the table was much larger! It was crazy, but these new “obstacles” made it quite entertaining. To put it lightly, we were not professionals that night, and yes a few balls did fly off the table during our games. Overall it was a fun experience that we will definitely try again (and hopefully we’ll play better too).

Last Friday morning 4 of us traveled by bus to visit the children of Save a Child’s Heart. This foundation works to help children living in underdeveloped countries who are in need of heart surgery. Utilizing the services of fantastic cardiac surgeons here in Israel, these children and their mothers are flown in and given a place to sleep at this house just outside of Tel Aviv until their procedures are finished and they have fully recovered. When we visited last week there were only three children, all of which were there a couple months ago when I visited for my first time. The three of them were all from Angola, and were 5, 7, and 17 years old. It was a fairly quiet day, since it was raining just before we arrived, but mostly because the last time we visited there were close to ten children running around. This week’s visit revolved around a little piece of technology known as an iPhone. When we walked in and I saw that Erikson (the 5 year old that I spent a lot of time with the previous visit) was still here, I thought it would help him remember me if I showed him a picture of us that I took during our last visit. I pulled up the picture, smiled, and showed it to him… his face lit up! I was so happy and thought he was remembering all of our time spent last time playing soccer, making paper airplanes and playing music and dancing around the house. I was fooled, because from that exact moment on I realized that his face lit up because of my phone and not because I was there again (well, maybe slightly because of me too…)! He took it from my hands, we sat down at the couch, and two hours flew by with him not losing a second of iPhone playing time! I must say that it was pretty amazing watching him (and his friend Antonio, age 7) navigate perfectly on such a complex device. I could tell that this was NOT his first time using one, but it was pretty amazing watching him speed by from one picture to another, zoom in and out, and open up different games (Mom, I found a new technology tutor for you!). It ended up being a great time, mostly because he didn’t stop smiling until we attempted to leave (yes, with my phone… I don’t think he realized that), but when it comes down to it that’s exactly why we were there!

This last weekend was Thanksgiving. Unfortunately I am unable to write about the amazing dinner that my class put together Friday night (maybe next month’s blogger can begin with this), but I spent the weekend in Jerusalem and had my own amazing experience. For my first year of college I lived here in Israel on a program called Nativ. This program brings American students in their first year of undergraduate studies to Israel to study and volunteer. Every year on Thanksgiving they have a big dinner and invite all of the old participants of the program who are in Israel to join. Along with myself there were 7 other people from my year alone that attended this reunion dinner! The rest of them have either made Aliyah (moved to Israel) and joined the Israeli Army, or are studying here for graduate studies. Along with the 8 of us, there are few more people from my class that were unable to attend but are also here in Israel! It’s pretty amazing how many of us ended up back her for one reason or another, and it was great seeing all of them again, some for the first time since we parted ways 4 years ago! It was a nice experience to celebrate an American holiday in the middle of Jerusalem, but if any of you have been there (if you haven’t please go!) you would know that it’s not such a big surprise, since more people speak English on the streets than Hebrew! The rest of the weekend was spent with two of my best friends who started the army just a few days ago. We had a nice and relaxing time together, and traveled back to Be’er Sheva before they hopped on a bus and headed to their base.

Now, it’s crunch time! I hope you enjoyed reading my entries to this blog, and that they gave you a little light into what goes on here in the life of a first year medical student in Be’er Sheva! Thanks for reading! - blogger of the month Ross Green

So… I’m a doctor now, right?! By blogger of the month, Ross Green

November 16, 2011

Hello again! I’m glad to see that my not-so-entertaining blog last week didn’t scare you away from reading my next entries! I’ll try to be more exciting, I promise!

This morning, for our second time this month, we traveled in groups of five to clinics around the city. In our Clinical and Global Medicine course we have been learning about patient interviews, mostly including pediatric patients and their parents. These clinical visits have been a great way for us to put this learning into action! Especially since ped’s is an interest of mine, being able to talk and interact with them has been a lot of fun!

Last week, our group visited the טיפת חלב clinic. In English this literally translates into “Ross’ Clinic”… just kidding… it translates into “Drop of Milk”. When we arrived we were greeted by a member of the first graduating class of our school, Dr. Eric Haas. We were first briefed on the types of patients that we would most likely be seeing. These clinics consist of well patient visits of expecting mothers and newly born infants, in order to do routine checkups and ensure that everything is going well. We were only able to speak with two mothers, but they were both very easy to speak with (partially because they spoke great English… always a plus!) and willing to answer all of the questions that we had. They both had really cute little babies, both luckily healthy for the most part. I was named the head of our group because of my level of Hebrew, but luckily I dodged the bullet (no, there were no more rockets if that’s what you were thinking) and was able to stick to just English this time.

This morning we combined with one other group and visited the Soroka Pediatrics Department. First of all, it was nice because we didn’t start till 9, so I was able to sleep in an extra hour! Sleep here is worth more than gold, or falafel (which are both legitimate forms of currency here), so I took advantage of every extra minute I got! Since we were in the hospital we wore our white Soroka physician’s coats and medical student ID badge, which really made us look and feel like doctors (at least in my eyes). Being the only Hebrew speaker I interviewed a shy little 4 year old girl and her father, who didn’t speak English. It actually went really well too! It’s surprising how much more of a language you know than you think, but I definitely impressed myself (yes, I am currently patting myself on the back and typing this sentence with one hand) and was able to have a great conversation with them! The little girl was very shy, but she told me that she didn’t like the color green so I think that was really why she didn’t want to talk to me very much! The rest of the morning went really well, and I believe that I got a lot out of what we did that will hopefully help me in the future!

Oh, one more thing! This doesn’t relate so much to MSIH but since it’s my blog no one can stop me from writing about my personal life! Two of my best friends made Aliyah (moved to Israel) and have been going through the process of preparing for their army service. This includes “tryouts” for any of the combat units. As of a couple of days ago they were BOTH accepted into צנחנים (Paratroopers) which is a very historically prestigious unit here in Israel! It has been really nice moving so far away from home but still having two of my closest friends nearby! Granted, once they join the army it’ll be very difficult to see them, but I’m really proud of them and wish them the best of luck! STAY SAFE!- blogger of the month Ross Green

November 8, 2011, by blogger of the month Ross Green

Note Soroka Medical Center in
the background

Shalom everyone! My name is Ross Green and I am the class of 2015’s blogger of the month. I apologize that I’m starting this so late into the month, but I think that this delay alone can explain to all of my readers out there what is going on here at MSIH right now… exam prep! For us first-years mid-terms are just around the corner, and it is very apparent. With less than four weeks until our first exam, the dreaded medical library has transformed into a social gathering, everyone is there (while at the same time it’s still a dreaded place)! Let’s be honest though… I’m sure you’re not reading this to hear about exams, those come with the territory of Medical School, even in Israel unfortunately.

On a more exciting note, the Israeli Ben Gurion students have finally arrived and started their studies. It’s pretty crazy how this city transforms into a completely different place when all of the students are here. Don’t get me wrong, I have truly grown to like Be’er Sheva (no, I’m not just saying that), but now that the main spoken language is no longer Russian and the average age has dropped by 30 years, I feel much more at home and enjoy meeting new people around the city each day!

For the first week of school, the student association of the university put together many different events around the city. Even though a few events were rescheduled due to a “rain day” (let’s just say the rockets are back), they were a lot of fun! The most entertaining of them so far was a street party held just across the street from Soroka Hospital. Along with a large bar and local food/attractions, the Israeli rock band HaYehudim performed a free concert which attracted thousands of students (it seemed like the entire student body was there). Personally, I didn’t arrive to the concert until near the end (there’s the exam studying again… sorry) but for the two hours or so that I was there I really got to witness the vast diversity of the student population here; From long haired dread-locks, to T-shirts with VERY random English sayings on them, everyone seems to have a place here at BGU! What I really thought was funny (and reminded me that I was in Israel) was that as soon as HaYehudim left the stage, the rock concert converted into a street-wide disco! Seriously… A DJ got on stage and everyone went from bobbing their heads to going crazy and dancing! Pretty amazing to see, and a lot of fun to be in!

Well, I guess that’s all for now. I’ve never blogged before so I hope this is what you were hoping for. I wish that there was a lot more going on right now, but unfortunately school has really seemed to take over right now! Next time hopefully more will have occurred and I’ll be more exciting to read! OH, before I go, there is one more very exciting event that occurred within our class this week. For those of you that haven’t heard, we had a not so fortunate event occur a couple months ago when our own Nicole Magpayo (MAG-pie-oh) was struck by a car by a not-so 

responsible Israeli driver. Just this week though, she finally gave her crutches back and is walking again! It was like watching a new child learn how to walk again, but I’m very glad that her healing process went so well. Here is a little flash-back to the not-so-mobile days. - blogger of the month, Ross Green