Med student learns about real EMR — Israeli style

by Johanna Ginsberg
NJJN Staff Writer

Just back from Israel, Jonathan Wallach recalls the typical highlights of the subsidized trips to Israel offered to young people by Taglit-birthright israel: riding on a camel in the Negev, hiking in the Golan, visiting Jerusalem.

Oh, and one more: taking part in a hospital’s simulation of a chemical attack.

Wallach, 24, of Livingston, was one of 38 participants in a birthright trip specifically tailored for medical students. “I’ve wanted to go to Israel for a long time, but I haven’t had the chance,” said Wallach, who is entering his second year at New York University School of Medicine. “This provided the perfect opportunity.”

Sightseeing and a moving ceremony marking the group’s visit to Jerusalem made up only part of the tour. There were also lectures on medical ethics, simulations of medical emergencies, and opportunities to practice on world-class equipment.

The trip was offered in conjunction with the American Physicians Fellowship, a 56-year-old organization pairing Israeli doctors with emergency backup physicians in the United States, ready to join them at a moment’s notice.

The idea came in part from Dr. Allen Menkin, a pediatrician with offices in Chester and Hackettstown, and a longtime APF member, and his partner in Israel, Dr. Boaz Tadmor.

APF covered the costs of the medical portion of the trip, from speaker fees to travel expenses for non-birthright participants and entrance fees to a simulation center at Tel HaShomer, an estimated $8,000 to $10,000 total.

“It’s a phenomenal opportunity to give them firsthand experience of the cutting-edge technology Israel has,” said Menkin.

And the trip had benefits for APF, whose membership is graying. “We need to get young people to join us or not do it at all,” he said. “At 64, I’m one of the young Turks at APF.”

Wallach was inspired on both counts. As copresident of the American Medical Association chapter at NYU, he said he is already too busy to form an APF chapter on campus. Still, he said, many of his peers on the trip discussed founding chapters at their respective schools. And he added that if someone started an NYU chapter, he would certainly get involved.

Camel riding, along with a bonfire at a Bedouin tent in the Negev, was a highlight for Wallach, along with interactions with eight Israeli soldiers who met with the participants.

But he was equally moved by the medical piece of the trip, which he called “intense.”

“In America, when we talk about medicine, we talk about heart disease, cancer, strokes, Alzheimer’s Disease,” said Wallach, a Livingston High School graduate who graduated from Johns Hopkins University in 2004. “In Israel, they talk about car accidents and terrorist attacks.”

And there are other challenges.

“I don’t expect as a physician in America to rush to a scene with a rifle with fog and noise and gunshots,” he said.

Wallach enjoyed visiting a variety of Israeli hospitals, but was particularly taken with the hospital at Tel HaShomer. “They have incredible surgical simulation devices,” along with mock patients, and he had the opportunity to work with one such “patient” suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome. His session was videotaped and critiqued. Wallach also watched the simulation of a chemical attack, including how the hospital staff worked to decontaminate victims and prepare them for the emergency room. “That was pretty cool,” he said.

Wallach, who has lived in Paris and traveled extensively throughout Europe, found he made a deep spiritual connection to Israel. “Of all the places I have visited, there are only two that I know I have to go back to: Paris and Israel.”