Hello dear readers,
I recently went through an experience where I had to stand up for myself in my position in National Service and I'd like to share a few (haha, as if) words about it here:
During the course I took before I started my job I learned several things, including biology, anatomy, how to draw blood, how to measure vital signs, and how to do an EKG test. My job as a medical assistant can include all of those, but I understood a typical day included showing up at 7:00 am, doing blood work, sitting in on morning conference if time permits, following the doctors on their rounds and in general assisting the doctors with paperwork, consultations, phone-calls, etc.
A few months ago I got a phone call from a woman who told me she was in charge of the EKG's getting done in the Internal wards and that she was having trouble scheduling a woman to come do them for the whole ward on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and that she understood that I had learned how to do them. I agreed to help her out twice a week because I thought I was being nice. In hindsight, I should have checked with my doctors and boss if this was okay, but I just thought I was helping...so I didn't think to ask.
As time wore on the woman began calling me on Sundays mornings often because the usual woman was late, and could I take over for her? She often woke me up on my long bus rides. A few weeks ago it happened that lady who usually does my ward was sick all week. I wasn't told that at the beginning of the week, but each day it was thrust on me. At one point I got a phone call from a different woman who was very nasty to me on the phone and asked me what I was doing at that moment. I said I was in the middle of a procedure with a patient. She asked what procedure. I said an urgent EKG the doctor had requested. She said "well you can wait for the doctors to request each one or you can get off the phone and do the whole list." She was so horrid to me on the phone that afterwards I sobbed. I was being spoken to like an animal or a slave. Everything was just my "job." I had had enough. I was feeling abused. Yes, I had learned how to do EKGS in my course, and yes of course if a new patient arrived in the middle of the day, or someone complained of chest pain I was definatly the girl to call to do an EKG. But a list of 15-25 patients daily? No, that wasn't my job,
It's a physical job,
I was missing rounds (I also do research for the head of the ward during rounds),
sometimes older men could be inappropriate during an EKG,
and many of my friends in the same position as me had similar stories.
We complained to our coordinator, who sent us to our wards. At one point the original woman who had called me came to explain to me in person what was going on. She happened to be American and she explained to me in English that it was a plan to have the Medical Assistant girls take over from the beginning, that it was our job, etc. I told her I felt like a technician, I hated coming to work, and I had been told I was to do EKGS only if they were urgent or sudden, not on a regular basis. Neither of us yelled and I recall working hard to keep my body language open. I must have repeated a dozen times that I didn't want to do it, although I didn't shout once. She also explained that until she had an order from higher up she wasn't going to do anything about it. She said we all have to do things outside our job description, it's part of working within a system, and essentially grow up and deal with it.
But despite not cursing each other or even raising our voices, we each got our points across in our quiet, polite, and very controlled row. She sent a different woman to do the EKGS the next day and the woman said "yes I came today because I was told you were fed up." I didn't go back to the original woman because I knew she didn't care five cents about me, and would only change if I got someone higher up involved. Before she left I said "want to come with me right now to my coordinator?" to which she replied she "had no time and was under a lot of pressure." No surprise there. In the end we had to go higher up, and we had a meeting with the head or Human resources. In between I spoke with the head nurse of my department who remained diplomatic for the most part. She also started to lecture me on team work and reliability. I was very frustrated by these speeches I kept receiving, as I work hard at being a diligent and reliable worker. I remembered my Israeli friend counseling me to cry because in Israel things start to happen when it gets emotional. So even though I felt like and actor and a fraud, I started to bawl on que:"I feel like a technician," I wailed. "I'm just a volunteer," I whimpered. "You know me, I come every morning with so much zest and energy to work, and now I don't care. I don't care to be on time. I just hate it. I wake up angry every day," I wept, I let the water works flow, and when the head nurse asked why I didn't feel like a blood technician when I took blood every day I told her the truth---I knew that was my job from the course, so I was expecting it. I knew before I was supposed to help daily with blood work,
The head of Human Resources took care of it for us, but the meeting with her wasn't exactly a rosy experience. From the about half that I actually understood, she seemed to think that we were snobs who thought we were above everybody else. She outright told us that the other National Service girls in other positions work harder than us. From what I understood we were being scolded for being hoidy toidy. My one Israeli friend who had repeatedly told me how much we had to stand on, how deeply it wasn't our jobs, and had assured me she would bring a copy of a law protecting us...did none of those things. She sat quietly and let less articulate girls butcher their arguments. No one seemed to be able to maneuver the conversation in our favour, and as for me, well I was so busy trying to parse and translate the words this woman was spewing quite quickly from her angry mouth, there was no way I could correctly translate what she said, formulate a response (because I probably had a good one as I had thought about this issue a lot), translate it back to Hebrew in my head, and then say the words without butchering them. Absolutely no way. And the woman seemed in such a hurry and without patience even for the native Hebrew speakers, I didn't dare try much more than mono syllable responses.
In the end, she did get them to stop using us for EKG technicians. But we all left with the feeling of being told off. The situation isn't fun for me, I know the EKG people are overworked and understaffed. But I also know it wasn't my job either. I feel really bad, but when I think back to how the EKG boss woman viewed it, what she said to me in English so I know I couldn't have misunderstand it, I was appalled at how she outright told me she was informed she could "use" National Service girls for this job. You use a spoon to eat, you don't use a person.
Some reflections and lessons I learned from this difficult situation:
*In my expereince Israelis don't seem to hear or think I mean anything I say if I haven't yelled or cried. I feel a cultural miscommunication because for me I would swallow a lot before I asked someone to stop doing something annoying. The first time I ask, it's as if I yelled. If I have to repeat myself, it's as if I have shattered a plate, and if I have to say it a third time, so help me G-d I called all their friends and family and boss and they are in serious trouble. But I could do all of this in a calm voice. Alas, my verbal and non-verbal cues don't seem to mean very much on this side of the hemisphere.
*Sometimes in life the right thing to do feels like the wrong thing to do. To make ultimate change for everyone we have to stand up and admit there are problems, and start fixing them. Even though I have caused more work for people and I do feel very bad for them on a personal level, maybe they will now see that people should be treated better. Girls made a bug fuss when they weren't treated right and hopefully this will stick with some of the involved parties.. Every day in the lunch line for water at the hospital cafeteria at least two people cut me off in line to get drinks first. I always go to the proper place in line and wait my turn. Instead of "learning to be Israeli" and starting to cut, I figure if I don't cut enough times, perhaps someone will see it and notice. If 500,000 more polite people move to Israel and don't cut, maybe we can change the etiquette here. I love Israel and a lot of what Israelis represent (bravery, kindness without question, etc) but I don't think there is any religious or cultural benefit to being impolite or uncouth.
*At one point I told a coworker some of what was going on and how uncomfortable I would feel with older men flirting with me during EKGs. She told me that this was the lot of women in life. I couldn't believe my ears. How easy she said this, like she accepted it. She admitted it was wrong, but was already beyond hope it would ever change. This gravely saddened me, and I saw that here for many workers this kind of attitude and expectation is the norm.
*I (re)learned that for most things in life it is better to rely on yourself and trust as few people as possible. No one can do the job you want how you would do it, so just do it. I was disappointed that my friends who speak and understand Hebrew weren't more organized, and didn't stand up and present themselves and our arguments better. I should have known better than to rely on anyone else, and just maybe I should have piped in my two cents in English. It is a sad lesson, but reliance on others is not always optimal.
*I learned not to agree to anything here without explicit permission and much thought. For my innocent unschooled brain it was hard to halt all my curiosities. It was difficult to train myself not to just answer "hey I can do that!" But I am learning it, and it is making me profoundly question my career choices; if I want to own my own business and or clinic, and many other relevant issues. It's shaken up my personal universe,
As always, my stories are a mix of coming of age, the trials and adventures of a foreigner in her homeland, and the tales of a sometimes rather unlucky girl. Thanks for reading. :)
I remain yours,
Shira
