{"id":18963,"date":"2012-12-10T14:13:21","date_gmt":"2012-12-10T21:13:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bigmedicine.ca\/wordpress\/?p=18963"},"modified":"2013-01-04T15:00:14","modified_gmt":"2013-01-04T22:00:14","slug":"newman-the-positive-paramedic-project-91-christmas-jew","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/bigmedicine.ca\/wordpress\/2012\/12\/newman-the-positive-paramedic-project-91-christmas-jew\/","title":{"rendered":"Newman | The Positive Paramedic Project #91 Christmas Jew"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A nugget of Big Medicine for your consideration. #91 Christmas Jew<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Long before the Brunelle Family introduced me to the joys of celebrating Christmas in the company of family at the foot of a beautifully decorated tree, I was a Christmas Jew.<\/p>\n

For on Christmas eve \u2018tis the moment when one becomes truly aware of the real number of Jewish paramedics in any given EMS system as they file into station for what might be one of only a very few shifts they pull in the course of a year.<\/p>\n

They are the religious mutual aid team. The part-time paramedics whose certification continuation is always a matter of cost-benefit debate right up until the moment their names appear on the Christmas Eve roster. They volunteer to work on Christmas so their Christian brothers and sisters can spend time with their families. They are entrusted with the keys to the city as they respond to emergency calls and hold hands with the sad, the lonely and the destitute.<\/p>\n

As a Christmas Jew, I wandered the snow-wrapped streets in my ambulance looking for the tell-tale signs of Santa\u2019s passage \u2013 the lights on at pre-dawn hours and little ones excitedly waving out frosted livingroom windows at our truck.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve rolled on calls to seniors residences expecting heartbreak only to be welcomed as prodigal sons returning. \u201cBefore you take Mildred to the hospital, you simply must have a spot of tea and a piece of cake.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve watched in awe as a senior police commander pulled up alongside our rig and handing over a large box of catered takeout food said, \u201cYou\u2019re the Jew Crew right? This is from everyone down at the station. Thanks much for your service tonight.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

And I\u2019ve been flagged down in front of a church by a priest who waved us inside while telling us we wouldn\u2019t need any of our emergency gear. When we got inside, the entire congregation stood and applauded quietly as the priest explained, \u201cThese are our Jewish friends from the EMS station up the road. I\u2019ve invited them to break bread with us.\u201d <\/em>I still smile when I remember calling that one in on the radio.<\/p>\n

There is something almost magical about being on the streets as Christmas Eve ends and Christmas Day begins. There\u2019s a voice on the air and it\u2019s Dispatch however the tone is more akin to a Hallmark ad than to yet another emergency run. \u201cMerry Christmas\u201d<\/em> or \u201cJoyeux Noel\u201d<\/em> or both without the need to add the time, answered in turn by every rig on the air at that moment.<\/p>\n

Back at the station there were always trays of food from the neighbours and cakes, cookies and all manner of sweet things from our colleagues.<\/p>\n

The next time our daughters ask me if I celebrated Christmas before I met Mommy, I\u2019ll have to tell them what it was like being a Christmas Jew for EMS.<\/p>\n

Be well. Practice big medicine.<\/p>\n

Hal<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A nugget of Big Medicine for your consideration. #91 Christmas Jew Long before the Brunelle Family introduced me to the joys of celebrating Christmas in the company of family at the foot of a beautifully decorated tree, I was a Christmas Jew. For on Christmas eve \u2018tis the moment when one becomes truly aware of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[11170,11553,11552,11171,21461,21619],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/bigmedicine.ca\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18963"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/bigmedicine.ca\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/bigmedicine.ca\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bigmedicine.ca\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bigmedicine.ca\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18963"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/bigmedicine.ca\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18963\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18968,"href":"http:\/\/bigmedicine.ca\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18963\/revisions\/18968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/bigmedicine.ca\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bigmedicine.ca\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bigmedicine.ca\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}