When the phone rang at 1 a.m. on Saturday night, it was pretty clear that this must be a minor medical emergency. And it was even clearer where I would be heading. My mother at 91 continues to soldier on, facing an intimidating array of ailments. But time and again, the talented medical team at Hadasah Hospital provides a path forward and a strategy to overcome her latest health challenge. So I drove across town in Modi’in, in time to see the Magen David Adom ambulance duo do what they do so well. Then off I drove, following them into the dark of the Jerusalem night.

It seemed to make sense to show up at 3:00 a.m.: there had just been sirens and a missile attack, so I could enjoy an illusion of safety during the “lull in the hostilities.” It was also late enough to avoid Jerusalem’s morning traffic. And at that hour, the emergency room at Hadassah Ein Kerem would certainly enjoy relative calm. By 7 a.m. I could count on the arrival of a full staff of weekday medical personnel who had enjoyed the rare luxury of a full night’s sleep.

The problem is that while Israel’s population continues to rapidly grow — its emergency medical capacity does not. Even in the wee hours, Hadassah Ein Karem’s emergency room was its usual high-density bedlam. Rivka, the cheerful young nurse who took us in, explained that there really was no “downtime” over the weekend in their 24/7, first-stop, take-all-comers clinic.

And all comers were everywhere: plenty of broken bones from ill-fated car rides; a few psychiatric patients making strange noises; there was a pancreatic cancer patient responding badly to the chemo; a constellation of hitherto undiagnosed diseases, and then there was my 91-year old mother, who seemed to be in great shape relative to the abundance of human suffering that needed to be treated.

As always, Hadassah Hospital offers healing to innumerable local flavors and a rich mosaic of Jerusalem’s diverse humanity: Orthodox men and women of every imaginable shade of piousness and malady; traditional and secular Muslims seeking care after their Ramadan........

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