Anticipating escalation on the northern front, I decided to volunteer in Ziv hospital in Tsfat, a gorgeous, 3,500-year-old town.

Having been born in Russia and grown up in Israel, I speak both languages so I fit right in with the staff and the surgeons, who are all Russian-speaking immigrants like myself. When I arrived, I was greeted by Dr Evgeny Solomonov, chief of surgery and an absolute beast of a surgeon. After an 8-hour long laparoscopic Whipple, he took me out to a local restaurant and we spoke about the current state of affairs. Later on, he helped hone my intracorporeal suturing technique. I wish I spent more time operating with him.

When I met with the residents and housestaff, I received a tour and learned about local healthcare practices. As expected there were some differences in the way patients are treated, surgeries are performed and what equipment is used. One of the substantial differences is in how emergency rooms function and, specifically, how trauma activations are managed. There is greater involvement of specialists which can be both an advantage and a problem. My impression from the few traumas I participated in, is that there is a place for more team training and protocolization.

My goal for this trip is to simply be helpful at the time when some senior staff left for the war and the remaining surgeons were thin-spread with the call schedule. I was happy to help out in the OR and provide some education to students and residents through discussions and suture workshops.

The cases were mostly a similar mix of emergency and elective general surgery that I’m doing in my practice. The total case count included mostly laparoscopic cases: Whipple, 3 bilateral inguinal hernia repairs, umbilical hernia repair, lysis of adhesions for SBO, 2 appendectomies, and 4 cholecystectomies. Open cases included a trauma laparotomy, loop colostomy, and 2 more laparotomies on sick medical patients.

On the weekends, I took some time off to meet with friends and family. Notably, I met with my company commander from my service in Tzanhanim in the years 1997-2000 in a nearby Druz village where he resides. For me, this trip was homecoming on a couple of different levels and I will go back as soon as I have to opportunity.

This mission trip was made possible by JOWMA, to whom I'm grateful. They arranged everything while battling the bureaucracy and funded the flight.