{"id":3352,"date":"2016-02-10T16:08:58","date_gmt":"2016-02-10T21:08:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ezermizion.org\/blog\/?p=3352"},"modified":"2016-02-10T16:08:58","modified_gmt":"2016-02-10T21:08:58","slug":"ezer-mizion-elad-troops-in-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ezermizion.org\/blog\/ezer-mizion-elad-troops-in-action\/","title":{"rendered":"Ezer Mizion Elad Troops in Action"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"pr<\/a>Ezer Mizion, the Caller ID reads.
\n\u201cAre you available to drive a patient to the hospital today at four?\u201d Eli\u2019s forehead wrinkles in thought and he makes the calculations. \u201cI\u2019ll take it.\u201d
\nHis cell phone vibrates. \u201cThis is Dr. Kluger\u2019s secretary,\u201d You have an appointment in another two weeks but a slot became available today at four. Interested?\u201d
\nYes, very interested. His foot has been waiting for over a month to be seen by the overbooked, expert orthopedist. True, it\u2019s nothing critical but the nagging pain\u2026 Perhaps he should cancel the volunteer trip? Just this once\u2026
\n\u201cNo,\u201d he heard himself say. \u201cI\u2019m booked this afternoon.\u201d
\nA soldier in the Ezer Mizion army does not go AWOL.
\nAt 3:55 he leaves. His foot seems to be bothering him so much than before. The thought that he could have resolved his ongoing pain pulses through his mind.
\nThe passengers are deeply engrossed in saying Tehillim and he silently joins their pleading murmurs. He almost forgets about his aching foot and the appointment that almost was. The passengers are frightfully tense. They burst out of the car and rush in.
\nHe adds another chapter of Tehillim to the anonymous passengers\u2019 pool of prayers, and is about to begin the long ride back . At that precise moment, a call comes in from his elderly mother.
\n\u201cEli,\u201d his mother sobs hysterically. \u201cGo to Tel Hashomer. Fast!\u201d \u201cAbba fell. He is in terrible pain. A neighbor called me at work. Nobody went to the hospital with Abba,\u201d she groans. \u201cAbba needs you. Now.\u201d
\nTo Ima\u2019s disbelief, he assures her that he is already at the entrance. \u201cAn ambulance just pulled up,\u201d he updates his frightened mother. A tremulous smile breaks out on the pained face of the elderly man on the stretcher. His son is here. Now everything will be all right.
\nTwo terrified, elderly parents at peace now because a soldier in the Ezer Mizion army does not go AWOL.
\n\"pr<\/a>\u201cEzer Mizion calling. Will you be available to take an elderly woman to the hospital?\u201d
\n\u201cNo,\u201d his rational mind silently answered. He had plans for the day.
\n\u201cYes,\u201d his compassionate heart responded aloud. His plans would have to wait.
\nHe stopped at the entrance to the hospital and waited but his patient did not emerge from the car. Frightened. Her voice trembling, \u201cThey don\u2019t pay any attention to a sick old lady\u201d she whispered. \u201cI never know what to say.\u201d The devoted volunteer discerned her unspoken request and offered his services as her escort.
\nIt was just as she feared. Their attitude was rough and humiliating, arrogant and derisive. She approached the receptionist\u2019s desk to let her know that she had arrived. \u201cSit down, Grandma,\u201d the receptionist roared at her. \u201cWhen it\u2019s your turn, you\u2019ll hear about it.\u201d At this point, the \u201cescort\u201d came to her assistance, speaking authoritatively. The attitude towards her changed sharply. She suddenly wasn\u2019t just another \u201cold lady,\u201d come to spend the rest of her days sitting in clinic waiting rooms.
\nTheir turn at the receptionist arrived. The woman rummaged through her pocketbook and was horrified to see that she\u2019d left her form at home. \u201cOn the end-table in the living room, under my glasses,\u201d she wrung her hands in disbelief.
\nThe volunteer took her house key in hand, and rushed back to Elad. Then back to the clinic. Again at the side of \u201chis\u201d patient for the duration. Five hours later, he opened his front door.
\n********************************************
\nAn elderly person with frightening case of muscular dystrophy asks for a ride to the clinic. A relationship develops and he becomes the volunteer\u2019s \u201cadopted\u201d grandfather. Efficiently and energetically, the volunteer arranges complicated bureaucratic business and submits requests to the authorities. His trips to the grocery take longer because of all the items he buys for the old man \u2013 unfamiliar packages appropriate for his strict diet. Making appointments for doctors, second opinions, and tests have become a regular part of his \u201cto do\u201d list these days, and food for Shabbat is on his wife\u2019s list \u2013unfamiliar recipes adapted to \u201cZeidy\u2019s\u201d health needs.
\nEzer Mizion transportation troops armed with an arsenal of solicitude and sensitivity.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"pinterest\"<\/a>\"linkedin\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ezer Mizion, the Caller ID reads. \u201cAre you available to drive a patient to the hospital today at four?\u201d Eli\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94,99],"tags":[18,33,20,537,346,28,19,14,34,141,32,31],"class_list":["post-3352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ambulance-2","category-golden-age","tag-aged","tag-disability","tag-disabled","tag-doctor","tag-elad","tag-geriatric","tag-golden","tag-hospital","tag-illness","tag-medical","tag-mobility","tag-transportation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ezermizion.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ezermizion.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ezermizion.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ezermizion.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ezermizion.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3352"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ezermizion.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3352\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3353,"href":"https:\/\/ezermizion.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3352\/revisions\/3353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ezermizion.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ezermizion.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ezermizion.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}