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Maya Schulder, a 16-year-old from Arizona, in Israel with her congregational youth group, died of dehydration on a hike June 15. News reports stated that the group lacked adequate water.
As is usually the case with such tragedies and near tragedies – e.g., the death of a new IDF recruit on an army tour shortly after induction, an African-American university student who collapsed and died climbing Masada, yeshivos and seminaries being forced to call for emergency evacuation while hiking in oppressive heat – the news came in the form of an email from Mark Newman of Great Neck, New York.
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When Mark and Ellen first received a call from Hadassah Hospital that all was not well with Ariel, the first doctor they spoke to was a cardiologist. They assumed that Ariel must have had some undetected heart condition.
Only later did they learn that he died of exertional heat stroke (EHS). By the time, he was brought to the hospital by helicopter his internal temperature was over 109 degrees Fahrenheit. He had literally self-combusted.
Ellen immediately began reading everything available on exertional heat stroke. And she and Mark quickly realized that what happened to Ariel was completely preventable – "not a tragedy," in Mark's words, "but an atrocity" caused by gross negligence.
Every new death from exertional heat stroke or dehydration is a searing reminder for the Newman's of their loss – not that reminders are ever needed. In addition, it is a further spur to what has become their life mission – preventing future deaths like Ariel's.
Working together with Professor Yoram Epstein of the Sheba Medical Center and Dr. Douglas Casa of the University of Connecticut's Korey Stringer Institute, the Newmans have created Ariel's Checklist of ten points that every hiker and hike leader needs to know to prevent exertional EHS. (Korey Stringer was an all-pro NFL lineman, who collapsed and died, during training camp.)
Ariel's Checklist comes in a short form for hikers and a long-form for tour leaders and guides. Both are available at
arielschecklist@icloud.com
Some of the ten items on Ariel's Checklist seem obvious at first glance – e.g., ensure sufficient hydration and adequate rest stops, do not hike in the heat of the day – but even then readers might be shocked how much water and rest are required by inexperienced, frequently out-of-shape hikers, in high temperatures.
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MASA-Israel has translated Ariel's Checklist into Hebrew and agreed to incorporate it as part of MASA's by-laws, making adherence to its guidelines incumbent on all tours operating under MASA's auspices. And the Tourism Ministry has undertaken to promote its distribution through hotels and its website and to incorporate Ariel's Checklist into all its training programs for tour guides.
One of the Newman's main goals is to get Ariel's Checklist into the hands of every yeshiva bochur in Israel. A combination of near total ignorance of basic safety requirements and youthful bravado has made the yeshiva population a particularly high-risk group during bein hazemanim.
Mark and Ellen Newman are painfully aware that they can never again kiss Ariel Yitzchak or tell him how much they love him until techiyas hamasim. That awareness intensifies every tefillah. But until then, they are doing everything possible to make sure that no other parents suffer what they have.
I strongly urge every hiker or parent of hikers to print and read the long version of Ariel's Checklist available at the Facebook page of that name and to keep the shorter version with them at all times.
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Read the full article at [
baltimorejewishlife.com]
Ariel's Checklist as a PDF file is accessible here: [
ksi.uconn.edu]
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/06/2016 08:16AM by mlb.
