The century’s largest winter storm in Israel is over, but roads are still
icy.
The roads to Jerusalem are closed at night and even sometimes during the day.
You can imagine what fearsome traffic jams materialize.
So it was this morning on Road 443 which leads from Modiin to Northern
Jerusalem, including our Mount Scopus hospital. The road was jammed. Traffic
wasn’t moving. Dafna Cohen, Hadassah Mount Scopus head nurse in pediatrics,
was stuck at one of the crossroads. She heard a police siren and saw cars
pulled over on the side of the road. Cohen could see someone was in trouble.
She, too, pulled over, “I’m a nurse from Hadassah Hospital” she said. “Can I
help”
The back seats of one of the cars had been lowered. The driver introduced
himself as a medic. Inside, Batsheva Shoshan was in labor. Her amniotic fluid
had already broken. Her husband Ha’ari Shoshan had been trying to drive her to
the hospital, but they realized they wouldn’t make it. This was their 14th
delivery and they knew the baby was coming fast. The medic had a birthing kit
and some other medical equipment. Cohen began helping, but then she had
another idea. Hadassah midwife Hanna Kasten, also from Modiin might be on her
way to work, too. Where was she? Cohen called Kasten and learned that she, too,
was stuck in traffic, one light behind.
In the meantime, the baby was crowning. Cohen and the medic delivered a healthy
baby girl.
Suddenly Kasten came running down the road. She took over and nurse Cohen went
on to the hospital.
A midwife with 20 years experience, Kasten cut the umbilical cord and
delivered the placenta. She gave Shoshan an IV. Outside the temperature was 35
degrees. Kasten made sure the baby was warm and that the mother was okay.
An hour and a half later, an ambulance finally made it through the ice and
traffic to carry Shoshan and the baby to Hadassah Mount Scopus. In the meantime,
the police had taken advantage of Kasten’s presence. An additional pregnant
woman was stuck on the road. Kasten ascertained that the woman was okay, and she
could continue to the hospital. At last, Kasten drove to Mount Scopus, to her
day’s responsibilities as deputy head of nursing for the delivery department at
Mount Scopus. Her first order of business was making sure that Shoshan and Baby
Girl Shoshan were safe and sound. “Promise me,” said Kasten to the ecstatic
parents “That next time you’ll come straight to the hospital for me to do the
delivery there!”
Best from Jerusalem,
Barbara Sofer
Israel Director of Public Relations
Hadassah, the Women's Zionist Organization of America
The roads to Jerusalem are closed at night and even sometimes during the day.
You can imagine what fearsome traffic jams materialize.
So it was this morning on Road 443 which leads from Modiin to Northern
Jerusalem, including our Mount Scopus hospital. The road was jammed. Traffic
wasn’t moving. Dafna Cohen, Hadassah Mount Scopus head nurse in pediatrics,
was stuck at one of the crossroads. She heard a police siren and saw cars
pulled over on the side of the road. Cohen could see someone was in trouble.
She, too, pulled over, “I’m a nurse from Hadassah Hospital” she said. “Can I
help”
The back seats of one of the cars had been lowered. The driver introduced
himself as a medic. Inside, Batsheva Shoshan was in labor. Her amniotic fluid
had already broken. Her husband Ha’ari Shoshan had been trying to drive her to
the hospital, but they realized they wouldn’t make it. This was their 14th
delivery and they knew the baby was coming fast. The medic had a birthing kit
and some other medical equipment. Cohen began helping, but then she had
another idea. Hadassah midwife Hanna Kasten, also from Modiin might be on her
way to work, too. Where was she? Cohen called Kasten and learned that she, too,
was stuck in traffic, one light behind.
In the meantime, the baby was crowning. Cohen and the medic delivered a healthy
baby girl.
Suddenly Kasten came running down the road. She took over and nurse Cohen went
on to the hospital.
A midwife with 20 years experience, Kasten cut the umbilical cord and
delivered the placenta. She gave Shoshan an IV. Outside the temperature was 35
degrees. Kasten made sure the baby was warm and that the mother was okay.
An hour and a half later, an ambulance finally made it through the ice and
traffic to carry Shoshan and the baby to Hadassah Mount Scopus. In the meantime,
the police had taken advantage of Kasten’s presence. An additional pregnant
woman was stuck on the road. Kasten ascertained that the woman was okay, and she
could continue to the hospital. At last, Kasten drove to Mount Scopus, to her
day’s responsibilities as deputy head of nursing for the delivery department at
Mount Scopus. Her first order of business was making sure that Shoshan and Baby
Girl Shoshan were safe and sound. “Promise me,” said Kasten to the ecstatic
parents “That next time you’ll come straight to the hospital for me to do the
delivery there!”
Best from Jerusalem,
Barbara Sofer
Israel Director of Public Relations
Hadassah, the Women's Zionist Organization of America
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