That sense of deja-vu

KEN STEPHENS

A personal medical episode during a trek across Israel as a teenager may have provided some background fodder for Lisa Edelstein's no-nonsense performance as Dr. Lisa Cuddy on the Fox Television hospital drama House.

"It was a truly bizarre experience," Edelstein relayed. "There I was, a typical Jewish American teenager on a group trip to northern Israel. All of sudden, I experienced a weird stomach problem that needed immediate attention.

"We were travelling through a remote region in Israel, so the nearest medical facility happened to be run by the local Arab population. The doctors had no idea what was wrong with me. So when they started talking about taking out my ovaries, I jumped up and told the group leaders to get me to another facility as quickly as possible."

The ailing Edelstein was transported to Emek Medical Centre in Afula (the capital of the Lower Galilee region). Upon her arrival at the hospital, Edelstein found herself face-to-face with wounded Israeli soldiers, who were returning from the battlefields of Lebanon. The year was 1982 and Operation Peace for Galilee, the war that was launched by the late prime minister Menachem Begin and then-defence minister Ariel Sharon to smash Yasser Arafat's Palestinian terror apparatus in Lebanon, was raging on all fronts.

"While the doctors were tending to my problem, they were also dealing with wounded soldiers, so I ended up sharing a room with a bunch of people," Edelstein recalled.

Twenty-three years later, doctors at Emek Medical Centre turned on their TV sets (the first season of House recently aired on Israel's Channel 3) and discovered that the former teenaged patient had matured into a healthy and vibrant actress. Ironically, Edelstein was portraying a dean of medicine and hospital administrator. Today, Emek Medical Centre is home to Israel's only female hospital administrator and CEO, Dr. Orna Blondheim, who was recently tabbed as one the country's 50 most influential women.

Edelstein revealed that her familial roots in the Jewish state run deep. "I have family all over Israel, including close relatives who helped found Kibbutz Dalia [about 20 miles from Haifa] in northern Israel," she said. In fact, Edelstein, who hasn't been back to Israel for a number of years, is pondering a return, perhaps as early as next summer.

Will TV's Dr. Lisa Cuddy compare notes with Emek's Dr. Orna Blondheim? Stay tuned.

Ken Stephens is an American journalist living in Israel.

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