The regular work schedule at Shevet runs from Sunday to Thursday, but it involves human lives, and you never know what comes up when. There might be a sudden change in conditions or an urgent surgery. Something comes up, then you are ready to serve – this is the Shevet way.

While we were having dinner on a weekend, there was a call from the hospital. Rachel who has been in hospital for a while should go on ECMO (Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation). ECMO is a final measure, and if a patient goes on ECMO, it is a fifty-fifty whether she comes off of it or passes away. This is a tremendous burden for a mother.

We are not medical professionals, so cannot be of any practical help even if we are there in the hospital. But still being there must mean a lot for a mother who needs to watch the baby having to go through that alone in a foreign hospital. When asked if anyone wants to go, being exhausted from a weeklong of work, I said, “If someone goes, I would like to pass.” At Shevet, though, there is always someone who is willing to go. I think it is because of the relationship. After all, Brea and Joanne drove there to be there. This is the Shevet power.