TULSA'S DR. DAVID HUREWITZ REPORTS FROM KINNERET:

My wife, Vicki, and I just spent two unique weeks in the Kinneret Region, living in a spartan apartment on the campus of Poriya Government Hospital and participating in hospital life there - me, as a visiting physician, a specialist in allergy and immunology, and my wife, as a RN, social worker, and an experienced hospice grief counselor. We went as volunteers through Partnership 2000 (P2K). I was busy - giving talks to the hospital staff, residents, and nurses; attending hospital rounds (where English was spoken for my benefit); and consulting with staff who had acquired unique allergic problems or who wanted my advice. The teacher also became the student: I attended pediatric asthma clinics to learn new approaches to management using advanced asthma medications not yet available in the United States. Because they were so busy, I even spent a few hours in the emergency room helping out, including treating a college student from New Jersey.

I learned of the similarities in the medical system, like their new managed care and HMOs, but also differences: Medical students study for six years. Doctors dress much less formally (i.e. no ties). The hospital is the source of health and everything related to it (home health, geriatric care, hospice). An Arab patient made his coffee at the bedside and offered us some. It was so crowded on the medical floor (120-150% above its 32 beds) that beds were in the halls as additional make-shift rooms, until a new building opens this summer. Even Hamantashen was served at the medical conference instead of the usual, like in Tulsa. A number of the young house staff were olim, from countries in the Middle East, Russia, and South America. They, themselves, were still in the process of adjusting to life in their new homeland. Mostly everyone could understand English, but not everyone could speak it. I found the doctors and staff to be bright, well read, confident, and serious about their work at and for the hospital, which they took with a great deal of pride.

A lot of planning by Sara Sanditen and the Hospital Medical Director, Dr. Yacov Farbstein, went into the development of our program to assure that our well-being, comfort, and interests were met. We were invited to the homes of Jewish and Arab doctors for meals and taken to nearby places that they thought we would enjoy seeing. We thus were able to interact with doctors and their families, both in the hospital and in a less formal setting.

We also visited other P2K projects - Jordan Valley College and the Tiberias Small Business Center and their directors. We also spoke with social workers at the Social Welfare Department of Tiberias to learn of the problems that a dramatic increase in immigration has caused. We visited Jerusalem, spent a day touring the nearby Golan Heights, and spent the last Shabbat in Tel Aviv.

Through P2K, we had the opportunity to visit Israel in a way most tourists never see it, to meet and work with Israeli Jews and Arabs, and to get an inside peek of life there. We had a wonderful time and would like to encourage others to experience Israel this way.