“By Your Side, Part One” – with Israeli Midwife Chani Turk

Dr. Fox: Welcome to today’s episode of “Healthful Woman,” a podcast designed to explore topics in women’s health at all stages of life. I’m your host, Dr. Nathan Fox, an OB/GYN and maternal-fetal medicine specialist practicing in New York City. At “Healthful Woman,” I speak with leaders in the field to help you learn more about women’s health, pregnancy, and wellness. Chani, welcome to the podcast. This is a long time coming. I’m really happy you’re here.

Chani: Oh, thank you, Naty. I’m actually really, really happy to be here. I’ve become an avid listener of yours. So, I’m quite honored to be here.

Dr. Fox: Because before we spoke, you would completely ignore me. But now when we speak, you listen.

Chani: Exactly. In high school, I never paid much attention to you.

Dr. Fox: I think that is a fair statement. So, yes, I guess that’s the… I probably said in my intro already, but you and I have known each other for I guess now that’s close to 40 years, give or take. I mean, a little bit less but give or take?

Chani: Give or take, give or take.

Dr. Fox: It’s a long freaking time to know somebody. Oh, my God. Went to high school together.

Chani: Yeah, it really is.

Dr. Fox: And, yeah, and you’re married to one of my close friends and you’re my close friend. And we’ve been friends for a very, very long time. And you are calling in, or I’m calling you from Israel. And so you are seven hours ahead of me. You’re ahead in the future. What’s happening in the future?

Chani: Yes. I can’t tell you. That would ruin everything, Naty. But I can give you a hint. I’m going to go to work soon. How does that sound?

Dr. Fox: Fair. All right. No, I mean, we’ve spoken about this and then I heard you on another podcast and I’m ashamed that I haven’t had you on yet. But now that was the impetus for me to say, oh, my God, I really have to do this. It’s about time to talk about, you know, what’s going on in Israel and about midwifery and about your life and about what you’re doing. And it’s just great. And so thank you. Thank you for taking the time to present yourself and what you’re doing to our listeners.

Chani: Thank you, Naty. Very looking forward to it.

Dr. Fox: Excellent. So, kind of give us a little sense of who is Chani Turk? Who are you? What’s your story? Where are you from? And how did you make your way over to the Holy Land?

Chani: So, I’m born and raised in Chicago. Grew up not far from you. From the age of 16, I always knew I wanted to be a nurse. I started volunteering at a hospital randomly, sort of like what to do on a Sunday, and I fell in love with nursing. And so sort of lucky in that, that I never had to make that decision. What am I going to learn in college?

Dr. Fox: A lot of medicine in your family.

Chani: There is. My dad’s a doctor, uncles are doctors. My brother’s a doctor, and my sister’s a nurse. So, yes, lots of medicine. One sister sort of went off, you know, the family path and she became a teacher, but we don’t talk about her so…

Dr. Fox: Horrible person. Horrible, horrible person. Teaching the youth, that’s terrible. All right.

Chani: Exactly, exactly. Teaching the youngsters. So, yes, so we like medicine in my family. Ask me if any of my kids are going into medicine and I can give you a resounding no. So, the genetics ended there. Pretty much after high school, I actually started college, did a year of pre-reqs for nursing, and then I took a year off and did my gap year in Israel, studying in a program for post-high school students. And I fell in love with the country that year. I knew that eventually I wanted to get here, raise my family here, valued it, appreciated it, loved it. Yeah, just walked away with really just wanting to get back. Almost you could say homesick to get back. It did take another about 10 years to make that happen. And in the meanwhile, I went to nursing school in Chicago and I worked a bit in Chicago, got married, had a few kids and married our common friend. Both of us had the same dream of wanting to get to Israel.

Dr. Fox: I didn’t even know that. I thought you kind of dragged Moshe there.

Chani: You think I can drag him anywhere maybe? I think the two of us are both equally stubborn. We both knew that we wanted to get here. And I think the year before we came, it was sort of like throwing it all on the table like, okay, he’s going to try this new thing and I’m going to work full time. And at the end of the year, we’re going to make a decision like Israel or not.

And I remember the day, like his thing, the job he was trying to get to do, he hung up the phone. He’s like, “Okay, Chani, we’re moving to Israel.” And I was eating a sandwich at the kitchen table, and I started crying, not because I didn’t want to come here but it was like that fear like, “Okay, we’re doing this. It’s happening.” And that was a scary week. And I think six weeks later, we came. It was sort of we knew what was going to maybe happen, so we had sort of planned it. Once the decision was made, it was like, boom, Moshe got in an airplane. He found us an apartment to live in. And I moved in with my mom, with the kids. I was pregnant at the time. And we came right in the middle of the High Holidays season on September. And we came on aliyah. We came to Israel, hosted by one of our other mutual friends, you know, for one of the first holidays here. Jorge hosted us that week. And it all comes together, Naty.

Dr. Fox: Right. Jorge, who for our listeners, is a female, Jorge with a J.

Chani: Which could be Jorge but yeah.

Dr. Fox: Yeah, it is. Jorge is her name. Exactly.

Chani: As she’s always been known. But anyway, yeah, so we just jumped right in and never really looked back. It was a hard move, but it was the right move. And we felt it from pretty much the moment we landed.

Dr. Fox: Now, when you were working as a nurse in Chicago prior to moving, what sort of part of the hospital were you working in? What kind of nursing were you doing at the time?

Chani: I was a little bit all over in the beginning. You know, I took a job sort of in a general floor to get some background. And then the year before we came to Israel, I needed to work full time and I knew I wanted to do something that I was going to enjoy. So, I got a job at labor and delivery, and that’s where I just really found what I love. It was hard. It was nights only, but I enjoyed it. I just loved it. I loved the practice of working with laboring women and the medical aspect of it.

At the time, you know, as a nurse in labor and delivery, you’re not doing the deliveries yourself, but you’re there with the women and you’re with the doctors. And you’re just part of this team. And I just loved it. I love my coworkers. I love the unit. So, that was sort of where I knew I wanted to be. And then when we came to Israel, I sort of thought that dream was in my past.

Dr. Fox: And then just also one more thing, just for our listeners though, tell us what does Moshe do. You said he had this job and opportunity just to give a plug for what he does because it’s somewhat unique is what I would say.

Chani: Okay, so Moshe slugs for Chai Lifeline in New York City. So, Moshe works for an organization called Chai Lifeline, which works for kids with cancer and other illnesses. They offer all sorts of support, volunteer, advice, and camp. There’s camp in the summer, which is this big, big program. And so Moshe started a fundraiser for Chai Lifeline. He worked for them in Chicago a bit in a different aspect. And then when we moved to Israel, he started working for them in a fundraising program. It’s called Team Lifeline. And it’s a team that he put together. He put this together to… They run marathons and they raise money for the camp in the summer for Camp Simcha, it’s called. And they have a couple marathons a year, and they form these teams, and they provide a whole weekend. And it’s a hotel, and you’re a team running. And you have your shirts and a lot of cheering. I would say ruach but I don’t know how to say it.

Dr. Fox: Spirit.

Chani: Spirit, there you go. And, yeah, so he does that. And a little bit of other stuff going on in the beginning, but that’s really his full-time job now.

Dr. Fox: Yeah, and as we speak, he’s in Miami. They just did the Miami Marathon. I did it.

Chani: [crosstalk 00:08:07].

Dr. Fox: You’ve done that, I know. I’ve done that, you know.

Chani: Yes, you’ve done it with your daughter.

Dr. Fox: My kids have done it, too. Yeah, it’s amazing. We’re just giving a little plug because, you know, if he’s going to listen to this damn podcast, at least we should mention his name and what he does, so he doesn’t feel totally left out.

Chani: Got to put him out there.

Dr. Fox: All right. So, getting back, so you go to Israel and you said you felt that that dream of being on labor and delivery was behind you. Explain that. Why is that?

Chani: Okay, so I’ll tell you why. So, I knew that I wanted to try to get my nursing license here, which I knew that was possible because it’s just paperwork, and it’s your boards. Basically, you have to retake your boards. So, I brought all the paperwork as much as I could think of, as much as I knew I had to bring. And of course, I didn’t bring everything I needed, but that’s a different story. But in terms of labor and delivery, I knew that, to work in the labor and delivery unit in Israel, you have to be a midwife. They don’t have nurses. It’s midwives and doctors. And the midwives are really… You know, they’re the ones doing the delivery. They’re the ones working with the patients. It’s sort of a do-it-all kind of thing. And I think the doctors are an integral part of the unit also. We work hand in hand with them.

But at the time, I didn’t think that I could be a midwife because I knew you have to go to school. And that, to me, was way beyond what I ever thought I could do. It’s in Hebrew, and it’s a whole new culture, and it’s a whole new responsibility. And I knew I could be a nurse. I did not think I could ever be a midwife.

Dr. Fox: Right. And just to explain the system in Israel… So, in America, every hospital does it a little bit differently. But in Israel, basically in pretty much every hospital and the maternity ward, when you, as a laboring patient or getting induced patient or whatever it is, show up in labor, you are going to be cared for by one of the hospital’s four midwives.

Chani: Staff midwives.

Dr. Fox: Right, staff midwives predominantly, meaning they do your nursing, they do your midwifery, they do your delivery, they take care of you entirely, and then the doctors are available in case you’ve got to bump it up, you know, they need a C-section or whatever it is. You work, obviously, in concert with them, but you’re basically being cared for by midwives. So, there just isn’t a role of labor and delivery nurse. It just doesn’t exist.

Chani: Correct. Correct. I go in for a shift, and I find out if I’m in triage, if I’m in the delivery room, or if I’m in recovery. And then I get my patients. So, if I’m in the delivery room, I get assigned to Rooms 1, 2, 3. So, I don’t know these women. I’ve never met them. Sometimes I have if I went to triage the day before. But, you know, for the most part, I don’t know these women, and it’s like, “Hi, my name is Chani.” And I’ve done deliveries eight minutes after a woman gets into the room and she’s ready to have her baby. And I’ll deliver her. And then after, it’ll be like, “Oh, hi, what’s your name? Nice to meet you.”

It’s so different, and it works so well. I think that from the American standpoint, I came pregnant and I had my baby here. And I used a midwife. I just went into the hospital, and I had him with whoever was on call. I don’t remember her name, unfortunately, but… Not on call but whoever was assigned to me. But I know that some people, when they come originally, they’re a little bit nervous, and they want to hire a private doctor. And you can do that. You can hire a private doctor, and that doctor will come in to deliver you. But to be completely honest, the midwives do so many more deliveries than the doctors do. I think my record was six deliveries in one shift, and that was extreme. But you’re doing one, two, three deliveries in a shift, and the doctors are there, and they’re giving medicinal orders. They’re there making sure that every… They go through each patient, and they do rounds on every patient. And they are there for the vacuum deliveries, and for the C-sections, and for anything complicated. But ultimately, we’re the ones doing the deliveries themselves. So, in terms of experience, actual hands-on deliveries, the midwives have a bit more experience than the doctors so…

Dr. Fox: So, when you got to Israel, did you decide, “I’m going to work as a nurse”? Did you decide to take some time? How long did it take? You’re obviously a midwife now. So, how long did it take for you to decide to make that leap? And, you know, again, I agree—it’d be horribly daunting to just go back to school in Israel. And again, we learn Hebrew, but we’re not fluent, you know, when we get there. There’s no question about it.

Chani: Far from fluent.

Dr. Fox: No, it’s pretty sad.

Chani: Yes, we won’t talk about that now.

Dr. Fox: After 12 years of schooling, you’re like, “I can barely order a pizza.”

Chani: [crosstalk 00:12:20]. Exactly. The good thing about pizza is it’s the same word in Hebrew.

Dr. Fox: I want pizza.

Chani: Exactly.

Dr. Fox: So, how did that work?

Chani: Yeah. So, basically, I came… As I said, I was pregnant and I had my son. So, I had four kids under the age of six, and I was pretty busy with… Yeah, so I was pretty busy with that. And it wasn’t until he started pre-nursery, that I said, “Okay, now I’m going to just get my… I’m going to do my boards.” I took my nursing boards in America in 1997. I ended up taking my nursing boards in Israel in 2009 so that’s… I don’t know. You do the math, Naty.

Dr. Fox: 12 years.

Chani: You were always… There you go.

Dr. Fox: Naty is a big mathematician. He can add. That’s good. Yeah.

Chani: [crosstalk 00:13:10].

Dr. Fox: The bar was low in our high school so… “Wow, he can add. Oh, my God. Put him in my class.”

Chani: I only have 10 fingers, okay, Naty? It doesn’t go beyond that. But the thing is I had to go back and study, you know, neurology and cardiac and pharmacology. And I’m sitting there, and that was all I did every morning. I spent, you know, four or five hours studying while the kids were in school. And I did it in Hebrew. You can take your boards in English but I said, “You know what? I’ve heard that English boards are harder than Hebrew because they mess up the questions in the translations.” No joke, that’s literally what I heard. So, I’m like, “I’m going to do it in Hebrew.”

So, I bought these books. And I remember the first day I studied, it took me two hours to get through half a page. And by the end, I’m flying through the books and doing practice questions. And in those days, it was a multiple choice, as they call in Hebrew, an “American test.” It’s a multiple-choice exam. I think it was 250 questions or something. It was an accomplishment. And I passed. I did okay. And I got my nursing license, so then I was able to be a nurse. And you never have to do that again. You don’t have to renew your license. I know in America, I think you have to renew your license, and you have to do those continuing education credits. You don’t have to do that here. My nursing license is mine till 120.

Dr. Fox: Yes. What motivated you to do this? Was it because you wanted to work? Was it because…?

Chani: Yeah.

Dr. Fox: Yeah, because you’re like, “I got to work.” And let’s put him on the spot, how supportive was Moshe this endeavor? Watching you break your teeth and studying and this was…you know, was he a good husband?

Chani: Excellent husband. No, he was… It’s so funny because not only was he supportive, but the whole community, people would see me walking out with my little index cards and be asking me questions, and I’d ask some of the doctors questions. And I think it became a community effort of Chani passing her boards. So, it was great. Everybody took part. I felt supported by him. I felt supported by everybody around me. It was challenging, but it was something that I enjoyed. I love learning. I love studying. I love nursing. I love the medical aspect of it.

So, for me, although it was hard, it was also enjoyable. So, it wasn’t a bad thing. And, yeah, it was definitely a family effort, although midwifery was more of a family effort. We’ll get to that. And the kids were little enough. They don’t remember that.

Dr. Fox: So, you passed your boards. And then did you start working right away?

Chani: Somewhat. I worked at a clinic. It was fine. It was a clinic. It was very transient. Nobody stayed there for a long time. It wasn’t the same feeling of working in a hospital. I also did not feel confident with my Hebrew. I didn’t feel confident with my skills. I sort of felt a little bit lost, and I wasn’t happy there, so I gave it up. So, I worked there for about 9 months, I think, or 10 months. And then that was that.

And then I decided to have another baby. So, I took some time off for our fifth child. And she’s six years younger than our youngest. So, that was a big gap. I don’t exactly know what happened in there, but somewhere along the lines, I stopped working, and I focused on the family and had her. And then again, same thing, had my baby. And after she started nursery, then I said, “Okay, now I’m ready. Now I want to get back to nursing. I want to get back to the hospital.” I miss the culture. I love the hospital culture, as crazy as it is, as crazy as shift work is, I wanted to be there. And so that was what sort of inspired me to start looking for a job in a hospital.

Dr. Fox: And then, when you decided to do midwifery, how long is that process for you? You’re already a nurse, you have your license. So, from start to finish to become a midwife, what does that take?

Chani: Okay, the midwife course itself is I think it’s about 19 or 20 months. It is, gosh, I think it’s like 300 class hours and 600 clinical hours. It’s a lot. We were in class and/or shifts three days a week on top of work. So, basically, I started working in the newborn nursery at… Am I allowed to say the hospital, yeah?

Dr. Fox: It’s okay with me.

Chani: Tel HaShomer Hospital. Yeah, I randomly ended up there. I was a little bit nervous. It happens to be… It’s a very Israeli environment. I know if you go toward the Jerusalem hospitals, there’s a lot more English-speaking and the staff speaks English. I didn’t get a job there. And so I had a connection, somebody knew somebody in human resources at Tel HaShomer. I got an interview. They hired me on the spot for the newborn nursery, and I took it because I wanted to be, sort of, in that field of women and babies. And I knew I couldn’t be in labor and delivery.

Dr. Fox: Right, and that’s a big hospital, right?

Chani: It is. It’s huge. It’s a campus. I think you’ve been there yourself. My building is only women. People will say to me, “Oh, where’s ears, nose and throat?” I’m like, “I have no idea.” You know, [inaudible 00:18:05]. It’s a massive campus. I think I don’t even know how many… They always love to tout the numbers but 18,000 something, 30,000 staff, something like that.

Dr. Fox: Right, how many in a year?

Chani: They’ll be proud to say the numbers have gone up since the war. So, we are at about… I think we’re at about, let’s say, 900 a month. We were before the war. Now, after the war, we’re at about a thousand-plus a month.

Dr. Fox: That’s a lot. I mean, just for context, that’s twice the volume of the hospital I deliver at, give or take.

Chani: Yeah, yeah.

Dr. Fox: That’s a lot. It’s a busy hospital maternity-wise.

Chani: It’s very busy. It’s the third or fourth busiest in the country. And so, yeah, it’s basically nonstop action. Also in the nursery. I mean, there were days when we had 70 babies in the nursery, you know?

Dr. Fox: It’s like home.

Chani: Yeah, that’s a lot of… Exactly. Hey, [inaudible 00:18:57]. It’s a lot of diapers, a lot of feeding but yeah. So, yes, I went from the nursery to the midwife course. I had to take another exam. I think my boards I had taken in 2009, so they wanted to… There were some other test I had to take because I had taken it however many years before. I had to take this in order to take… It’s called a Kurs Aleph CC. I literally don’t even know how to translate that, but it’s a step-up course. It’s not a college. It’s not a degree. It’s not a master’s program or anything like that. It’s just a course where you get another level of certification. Nurses in the emergency room have to do it, surgical nurses. It’s basically a system in Israel that they use to make sure that you are practiced in the field that you’re in.

So, in midwifery, basically, that’s what it is. It happens to be the longest course. As I said, it’s almost two years. It was class, tests, the practical exam, written exam. It was a very hard 20 months. I was not home a lot. To be completely honest, I suffered. My kids suffered. Moshe suffered. He’s stoic but it was a lot. It was a big toll on my kids. They were all sort of in their teenage years. It definitely took us a few years… I’m not even exaggerating. It took us a few years to recover from that. So, it was not easy, but it was worth it. And I just kept telling myself that. I said, “This is my goal. This is what I want to do. And I know this is going to make me happy at the end of the day.”

Dr. Fox: Yeah, and it’s a big shift because, again, you’ve trained as a labor and delivery nurse, so you’re very comfortable sort of in that space, in that room, and in that environment. And you sort of know what’s going on. You had sort of like, on the one hand, to step up when you were taking the midwifery course because you knew so much already. But on the other hand, it’s so different when you’re on the other end, delivering the baby versus being the labor nurse. And so was that exciting or terrifying for you when you sort of flipped roles in that training?

Chani: It’s so funny because somebody recently asked me if I remember my first delivery. I don’t really remember my first delivery, but I will tell you, I remember that probably for a year, I shook. Now, obviously not dangerously, but I’d get butterflies in my stomach. Hold on to the baby. But, no, I remember my hands shaking and taking deep breaths, and like, “Okay, you could do this.” And my stomach, sort of, getting all nervous and in knots for a long time. Now it’s like, “Okay, woman comes in, grab the baby, hope I’ve got gloves on,” meaning it’s such a different experience. And then it was just, “So, am I doing everything right?” And so many things to remember.

And as a midwife here, you are doing everything. You’re doing the delivery. Then the baby’s born, you’re putting the baby on mom, you’re clamping the cord, you’re cutting the cord, you’re taking blood work from the cord if you need to. And then you’re making sure mom’s okay, and that the placenta is coming out, and she gets her Pitocin afterwards, and that she’s not bleeding. If she is, you give her more meds. And her blood pressure and fluids. Obviously, you can call for help and you can press the red button if you need to and making sure the baby is okay. And you’re giving the APGAR. Like, all these things that are on you. And for the most part, you’re doing it alone, which I always say… Everyone says, “Wait, is there going to be a doctor in the room or somebody else in the room?” And I say, “No, an ideal delivery is me, mom, husband or family, and baby.” That’s the ideal delivery but it’s a lot. And it takes years to really get used to it. And obviously, you’re constantly learning and constantly finding new ways or improving. So, yes, it’s a learning process. But that beginning, that was a lot.

Dr. Fox: Yeah, I wasn’t thinking, is there a doctor in the room? I’m thinking, wait a second, you don’t have a nurse with you? You have to do all this yourself? My God, we would forget to do everything, the doctors.

Chani: Well, that’s why we’re there with you, Naty, when we were nurse… The nurses are there with you…

Dr. Fox: Thank God.

Chani: …to guide you through.

Dr. Fox: Yeah. In this country, you don’t want to be left just the doctors or bad things happen. And so you need a team. We’re team-based here.

Chani: Oh, Naty, I put my life in your hands, and you know it. But yes, so it’s a lot. And you do get used to it, and you stand up beforehand, hopefully. And you realize that everything sort of works. I don’t know how, but it just sort of works, you know? And being calm is a big part of that.

Dr. Fox: I passed out at my first delivery. I remember that as an intern.

Chani: Did you really?

Dr. Fox: So, it wasn’t my first delivery I had ever been at because you’re at them when you’re a med student. But the first delivery that I was the person in charge, yep, passed out.

Chani: No, but was baby in or out? At what point did you pass out?

Dr. Fox: Well, as you may imagine, I don’t remember all the details because I was passed out. But I remember it was… When I started my internship… So, we start in July, and back then, part of your internship in OB/GYN is you had to do a rotation in internal medicine. And I think they stopped doing that, but I’d spent two months in medicine. So, it’s now like September, and I’m taking my first… And I’m on oncology or something like GYN oncology, so I’m just taking my first shift on labor and delivery for a Sunday or a Saturday, like a weekend call. I hadn’t been part of any deliveries. I haven’t done any OB yet in my residency. I had just done medicine, so I’m like, is there an elderly man who needs a Foley? I could do that. I had nothing to do with OB.

So, I come in, which is fine. And, again, I’d seen deliveries, and I read about them. And there was someone with me. The chief was with me, I wasn’t alone. But you get dressed up and wear the boots and the gown and the hat.

Chani: Right, right, the whole gown, the whole outfit.

Dr. Fox: And it’s September, so it’s probably 142 degrees in the room and I’m sweating and I’m hot. I hadn’t eaten and I’m like, “Whoa, I’m going down.” And so the chief took over, and I went and sat in the dad chair, the one that lies down. The guy was like, “Dude, have my chair.” So, he stood up, and I’m there in all my gear, lying there, passed out. They’re doing the delivery.

Chani: Oh, my God.

Dr. Fox: Thank God this was before…

Chani: I really hope somebody got a picture of that.

Dr. Fox: This is before iPhones and TikTok because that would have gone viral.

Chani: Darn it.

Dr. Fox: “Here’s my doctor, passed out.” Not since then. I’m on a good streak.

Chani: Oh, good to know.

Dr. Fox: That was the last time I passed out at a birth.

Chani: First and last. Good to know. Good to know.

Dr. Fox: I’ve told that story before. So, you’re practicing as a midwife. And what does that mean for you schedule-wise? You said you do shift work. So, you don’t have your own patients. So, does that mean 2 shifts a week, 10 shifts a week? Nights? Days? How is it working when you’re starting out in this career in Israel?

Chani: So, basically, all midwives are shift work. And yeah, unless you work for the clinic, not in a hospital. If you’re a hospital-based midwife, you do shift work. It’s not like in America, where I was only mornings or I was only nights. I guess now it’s 12-hour shifts in America. So, here, it’s eight-hour shifts, and you could be put on any shift. So, I could work one day a morning shift. Tonight, I’m working 7 p.m. to 3 a.m. That’s the sort of intermediate shift to increase staff for those busy hours. Or you could work nights.

Some people, if you request to work only nights, they’ll gladly give you only nights. But it’s very hard to get only mornings or only evenings. You have to put in your share of nights. I personally am part-time, so I work three shifts a week, although it never feels like that because there’s always somebody calls in sick and then you add a shift and then you’re working this and that. Sometimes I go in and deliver people I know, which is really amazing to deliver the girls in the neighborhood that I’ve watched grow up. That’s extraordinarily special. So, I feel like there’s weeks I’m in the hospital 5 times a week, 24 to 48 hours at a time. But officially, I’m three shifts a week, and it could be any shift. And it could be Shabbat and holidays.

Dr. Fox: Right, there’s a shift to 3 a.m.?

Chani: No, it’s 11 to 7, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and then 7 p.m. to 3 a.m. Then from 3 to 11, they’re down one midwife but it’s just… Naty, I’m sorry, like [foreign language 00:26:57]. I don’t know how you would say that, like to add… I don’t know, like to reinforce your staff numbers because those are the busier hours.

Dr. Fox: Does anyone show up at 3 a.m. to start their shift?

Chani: No.

Dr. Fox: They’re all working from earlier.

Chani: I leave at 3. Yeah, meaning there’s the 11 to 7 shifts. So, that’s most of the staff is 11 to 7. I’m just a bonus from 11 to 3, that you’ve got an extra person there for half the night shift.

Dr. Fox: Got it. Oh, I understand. Okay.

Chani: Yeah, I actually this shift. It’s a good shift because you sort of get a little bit of a night’s sleep in there, so it’s sort of nice…

Dr. Fox: And getting to drive home at 3 in the morning must be the only time when you can do it without traffic.

Chani: Oh, it’s fun. It’s fun stuff. You know what? It’s Israel. There’s always traffic.

Dr. Fox: Amazing. So, Chani, here’s what I’d like to do. We’re going to pause here, and we’re going to pick up next week with part 2, because I want to ask you about how everything changed a year and changed ago on October 7th. And so we’re going to pick that up next week with part 2 of the podcast. So, for our listeners, we’ll see you next week. Chani, you stay right here because I’m going to see you in four seconds.

Chani: Sounds good.

Dr. Fox: Thank you for listening to the “Healthful Woman” podcast. To learn more about our podcast, please visit our website at www.healthfulwoman.com. If you have any questions about this podcast or any other topic you would like us to address, please feel free to email us at hw@healthfulwoman.com. Have a great day.

The information discussed in “Healthful Woman” is intended for educational uses only. It does not replace medical care from your physician. “Healthful Woman” is meant to expand your knowledge of women’s health and does not replace ongoing care from your regular physician or gynecologist. We encourage you to speak with your doctor about specific diagnoses and treatment options for an effective treatment plan.