Student Experiences Abroad
Pritzker Students Travel to the Middle East for a Unique Medical, Cultural Experience
By Eric Chen, MS2; Aaron Cohn, MS2; Eugine Du, MS2; Sarah Sobotka, MS4
In December 2008, twenty-five Pritzker medical students of five different faiths traveled to Israel for a truly unique experience. We embarked on an ambitious itinerary; each day was filled to the brim with medical, cultural, political, and religious experiences. Ranging from visiting an Arab Bedouin clinic to state-of-the-art hospitals; from traveling to Fassouta, a Christian Arab village on the Lebanese border to home-stays in Kiryat Gat, a town 30 minutes away from the Gaza border; from discussions with the director of Iranian Studies at Tel Aviv University to dinners with Israeli medical students, our experiences were diverse and profoundly educational.
Kweku Grant-Acquah, Aaron Cohn, Josh Williams, Vishal Saxena, and Cameron Ninebar with Magen David Adom
After only the first full day, Kweku Grant-Acquah, MS4, immediately recognized that “beyond simple facts…one must understand the broader cultural and political forces that have influenced this remarkable country.” Indeed, the profound complexity of the political tensions in Israel was hard to ignore and we sought to gain a more nuanced understanding of the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We were fortunate enough to meet with Khaled Abu Toameh, a renowned Palestinian journalist living in the West Bank. As Josh Williams, MS2, commented, we did not “leave [the meeting] with any kind of a clear perspective, only lingering questions.” However, “the ability to ask more intelligent questions is a small step forward.”
On the medical front, the day-to-day reality of treating patients in a region of deep-seated conflict has sobering ramifications. One trauma surgeon shared with us the story of one of his patients who later attempted to return for a follow-up visit with bombs strapped to her. He simply shook his head and said, “I don’t understand it.” Another physician told us about the complexity of making medical decisions while taking the political reality into account. For instance, when deciding whether or not to discharge a patient, doctors must consider the risk of a patient getting checked at a border crossing, potentially prolonging the admission for ensuing care.
Though the Middle East is often portrayed as a region of struggle, destruction, and violence, we discovered a young country full of hopeful and inspiring stories. As future physicians, the universal message that health care is a human right resonated deeply. Jeanie Paik, MS1, reflected, “In the health care world, people come together regardless of religious perspective.” At Schneider Children’s Hospital, we heard a powerful story of how the death of a Jewish child resulted in a series of transplants to provide a Druze child, a Jewish child, and a Muslim child with critical organs. The juxtaposition of profound hope and commitment in a setting of perpetual violence made the determination of physicians to treat all patients to the best of their abilities all the more poignant.
Students outside of a rural Bedouin clinic
In many ways, the trip was an affirmation of the many reasons we chose to dedicate ourselves to the practice of medicine. As Umar Khokhar, MS2, said, the unifying nature of medicine was “reassurance that we are in the right line of work.” When we visited a Bedouin clinic in the Negev desert, we spoke with two Muslim physicians, both trained in Italy, about the challenges of interfacing between modern health care and the traditions of a nomadic people. Though they had the opportunity of practicing elsewhere, both physicians returned to their homes to provide care for an overwhelmingly underserved community. They acknowledged the reality that doctors are often lured away by salaries in the United States, but many feel compelled to return home.
One pivotal experience was a discussion with a 16-year-old girl from Sderot, a town that has been the daily target of Hamas rockets for the past eight years. Her remarkable composure, despite living with constant fear, and her father’s concern for Palestinian friends in Gaza gave us much to think about. Upon returning to the US, we were troubled to hear of the war in Gaza and the escalation of violence in the beautiful land that we had just visited. Our thoughts were often with the wonderful people that we had the privilege of meeting during our trip. Through the heterogeneous faces that gave a personal voice to our rich experiences in Israel, we gained a profound appreciation of the restorative and unifying potential of medicine and the promise that peace can be found in the pursuit of healing.
