Chapter 24

We were ready to begin a new life. It sounds melodramatic, but it was a big decision we made and we were jumping into deep water not sure if we will be able to swim. When we boarded the ocean liner we were directed to a cabin. Our cabin was at the bottom. It had 4 bunk beds. Sam and Roman were seasick all the time while Mary and I enjoyed the good food in an elegant dining room. I was very tense and frightened. Sam was sure that the future will be OK. It was the end of June. Somewhere half way from France to USA, the weather changed. The air became thick. It was hot and humid. The fog was very dense. We did not have light summer clothing. We left Poland in the winter. We were dressed in tweeds and wools.

On the sixth day of the journey, we were approaching the shores of the USA.   The  view was unforgettable It was Sunday. The weather was hot and the sky was clear. We were standing on the deck. We saw the many cars driving along the shore. The Statue of Liberty did not impress me as much as the cars speeding along the shore.

The time came when we had to leave the cabin. We picked up our meager luggage. At the door  the steward was waiting for the tip. I gave him the few francs we had. He was rude, very rude. He told me that he could give me more than I gave him. Sam did not understand any of this. I apologized and I tried to explain to him our situation, but he was very cruelly rude. I felt humiliated.

The arrival was complicated .We were not permitted to go on shore. Sam was lost because he did not understand a word of English. The customs personnel was asking for a medical certificate stating that we had a smallpox vaccination. I had it somewhere in my papers, but I was not able to find it. Finally a French ship doctor came and he felt sorry for us. He wrote a statement that each of us had a smallpox vaccination. We were the last to leave the customs area. On the other side, waiting for us, was aunt Molly, Elaine Markell ( my cousin) and Henry Lempert a second cousin.

Henry Lempert left Poland during the war. The Lemperts were from Lodz.  Oscar Lempert was my father’s first cousin. They were same age. He was born in a small town of Kleck.  He was a talented businessman. He made his first money early in his life and moved to Lodz.. Eventually, he was an owner of a textile factory. They were refugees from the occupied territory of Poland. The family was able to escape due to the help of the Japanese Consulate in Lithuania. Henry Lempert was Oscar’s nephew. He was with  the American Navy in the Pacific at the end of the war He never married.. Oscar and his wife Helen were not interested in meeting with us until a year later.  Elaine and Molly put us into a taxi. Molly told Sam that he should be prepared to pay the taxi fare. Molly spoke Yiddish, so Sam had no difficulty communicating.  I  was able to limp in English.
Molly had a key to the apartment of Elek Haber.  Haber was visiting in Paris when we were leaving for New York We knew him when he stayed in Krakow after the war.  His wife was on the way for a summer vacation in Europe. Before leaving, she brought the key to my aunt. She apparently directed aunt   Molly to take us to their apartment. We were to stay there the time of their vacation in Europe, two months. It was a nice gesture. It seemed this way. The truth was, Haber wanted to make money on the rent while on vacation in France. His relative came with a letter from Haber. There was a demand for a sublet rent payment of 100 dollars a month, to be paid for 2 months in advance.  We were  permitted to use only one room and the kitchen. The phone was locked It was a very cruel thing to do. Haber knew that all we had was about 300 hundred dollars .I refused to stay there. We found an apartment around the corner where the monthly rent was 70 dollars. It had two small rooms and a kitchen. There was no cross ventilation. Someone donated the essential furniture. Cousin Elaine brought bed linen and towels. Finally we had a home. It was in Washington Heights on 173 Street.  Across the street was a small park with a view of George Washigton Bridge and in walking distance of the river.  It was in this small park where Sam met a man from Krakow Henry Salomon. He became the best friend of our small family. He was the most unselfish person I ever met. He owned a laundramat. He was not a rich man. He became our most understanding friend.                                                                    

The following day, I went to the Lebanon Hospital to sign in for the internship. I had no idea what is required from an intern, and no one bothered to introduce me to my new job .I had to report to work on July 1st. Sam tried to talk me into postponing the start, but I was afraid that it would not be the right thing to do.  Elaine took the children for the few first days to let Sam to look around for a job. The Markells had our money, the 514 dollars we were able to transfer from Poland. It helped us to survive the most difficult time. Sam met some of his old friends from Krakow. We registered Mary at  a public school. Roman was accepted at a kindergarten as a charity case. I left my family to get settled without my help. It was very painful.

The first year in New York was like a bad dream. I did not believe that I would ever be able to achieve my goal to practice my profession in USA.   I had to forget that I had been an Orthodontist. Being a graduate of a Medical School I had to start the training in general medicine from scratch. It was 11 years after my medical school graduation. I had to refresh my knowledge as well as to learn the modern approach in medical science.

In the hospital I shared a room with a physician  from Cuba .My roommate in the hospital was a compassionate woman She was able to understand my fear. My knowledge of the language was very poor. I could understand written English, but the spoken English was a real problem. Phone conversation was not possible. When I had a call, I would run to the person that called to understand the call.  There was no time assigned to inform the new staff on the logistics of the work of an intern.

 In the meantime my family was in financial difficulty. Sam managed our finances by borrowing from the butcher to pay the baker, and then from the baker to pay the butcher. He was not free to start a job He had to be with our children.   It was vacation time. The schools were closed. Occasionally he would leave the children in the park.  Mary was a very responsible young lady although she was only 9  and a half years old.  Sam managed to get in touch with a dental laboratory. The owner was a war survivor. He was from Czechoslovakia Sam was able to understand Czech language  and the man understood Polish. Both spoke Yiddish.  He started as a delivery man.  Later he became  a helping hand in the laboratory.

In the hospital I was assigned to the surgical service with the emergency room coverage. It was not a wise move. I needed few days of introduction to the system of staffing in an American hospital.  I was assigned to a regular rotating internship program The schedule was 72 hours on call, followed by a regular working day to 6 pm. We were permitted to be out from 6 pm until 7 am next morning.  The trip to Washington Heights was half an hour by subway.  At home I was not able to take care of my family. I was exhausted and I was not used to the humid, hot New York weather.

 Our apartment had no cross ventilation. It was a second floor walkup. It had a small kitchen and two rooms. The children  had the bedroom with two beds. We used the front room with a convertible sofa. There was a small table and four chairs in the kitchen.

We had a very nice neighbor, a couple with a girl Mary’s age. They were refugees from Germany. They gave us a desk for Mary, and also few things for the kitchen. Roman was registered in a kindergarten in Washington Heights. The teacher was a refugee from Germany. She was a very kind and a very wise woman. Since Roman was traumatized by attending the kindergarten in France, a special approach was needed to give him security. She gave him a special assignment. Since he was  brought  in early, he was responsible for bringing in the milk which was  in the lobby. Roman received a donated record player, some records, and clothing Sam made friends in the park.  He did not speak any English. The neighborhood was Jewish -German and since he was fluent in both languages he had no problem. He learned to make hamburgers and French fries. He even was able to do the laundry. He managed, while I was falling apart.

One evening Sam asked Henry Salamon to baby sit  and Sam took me to see  Times Square. The lights, and the merry crowd seemed to be unreal. I felt like a total outsider, not able to fit in.  This trip did not help. I remained frightened and not sure what the future will bring.

My comprehension of English was improving. Mary and Roman learned the language fast, but Roman lost his French in a short time. Mary was a very brave and determined little girl. She took care of her brother. She asked two girls in her grade to help her with school assignments. The problem in school was with her teacher Ms. Navasio. Ms. Navasio decided not to pay attention to Mary.  My daughter did not give in. She phoned me at the hospital.  She asked me to speak to her teacher. I spoke to her teacher. Her explanation for not responding to Mary’s raised hand was her low score on the IQ test. The teacher did not want to take into account that the test was in English and that Mary spoke French and Polish and she was learning English. Mary’s standing in school did not improve until she was transferred to the Junior High school. In the new school, with a new, intelligent, Jewish teacher, she was placed in an advanced program.

Roman was registered in a free program in a Yeshiva elementary school for the following year. In the meantime, with Sam in charge and with his strong belief that the future will be much better, we were adjusting to the new country.
 
There were a few episodes during my internship that are worth while mentioning.   Shortly after the beginning of my internship, in the middle of the night, I was called to the emergency room. I did not wait for the elevator, but I ran down the staircase to the lobby. On my way to the Emergency Room, I noticed blood on the floor. In the Emergency Room was a man with a deep wound in the forearm and a nurse trying to stop the bleeding. I had no idea what to do next. I did not know that there were other doctors who should be called. I fainted. The next thing I remember I was in a room, on a bed, being attended by a Japanese female physician, a second year resident .She was an American born Japanese. She was a lost soul. She wanted to be Japanese, but she did not speak the language and she did not know Japanese customs. She was rejected by the Japanese and not fully accepted by the Americans.  She was born in Mexico. Her family was living in Mexico.

The internship was a rotating service. It consisted of Surgery, Medicine, Obstetrics and Pediatrics.  I started my training in the most demanding specialty, the rest was much easier. During the second rotation (obstetrics), Sam phoned me that Roman is very ill., with the temperature of 105’8. It was serious. I asked the administrator of the hospital, Mr. Constantine for help. He assigned one of his assistants to drive me home and to bring Roman to the hospital. Roman was in bad shape. He was admitted to a semi private room, which he shared with a  Spanish-speaking boy his age. The little boy was hospitalized for asthma. His family was very kind. Since Roman had no toys, they brought him toys. The staff was attentive. Roman did not know any English, and he was not able to ask for attention. Roman was very sick, but he did not cry. The fever was controlled within hours. The initial blood test was indicative of a blood disorder. I was scared. The next blood test looked much better. Roman went home 3 days later. I tried to be with my baby as much as possible. My baby back with his father and saved, I began to organize the next step in achieving  my medical degree in USA. I turned to the organization that helped me to get the internship. It was the “ The association for foreign medical graduates“. Their primary goal was to find the labor  force for the American hospitals. The head of the organization was a social worker by the name of Mrs. Rubin. Sam and I went to consult with Mrs. Rubin and to ask for directions how to proceed to get the license to practice medicine in the USA. Mrs. Rubin played God. She told me that I would never get a license to practice medicine in the USA and since we have children I should take care of my children. Sam should become a television. repairman. I had no help but discouragement from the organization that was established to help the foreign medical schools graduates to become licensed. My close friends, both doctors from Poland with two children, went  to same organization. They did not ask for financial help. They asked for directions how to proceed in order to apply for a license to practice medicine. They were given no encouragement either. He became a Professor of Surgery in Omaha, Nebraska.  His wife practiced medicine as an Ear, Nose,  andThroat  specialist.  Both continued in the specialties they had while in Poland.

We succeeded because we were strong. How many immigrants were destroyed because of Social Workers, who did not understand, what it means to be transplanted to a different country and different culture?  Handouts of second hand clothes and money are of very little help to immigrants with a dream and the ability to follow the dream. Compassion, understanding and practical advice was all we needed. We got it from people in the street, but not from a well endowed organization with a high salaried staff.

 As I realized later, their goal was to provide slave workers for the hospitals, not good enough to attract  American Medical Schools Graduates.

We left the office of the organization very angry, but also very determined to achieve  medical license in the USA. I applied for admission to the Postgraduate Medical School for foreign medical school graduates. It was an excellent course, introducing foreign medical school graduates, American and foreign, to medicine in the USA. It was run by the New York University Medical School. My application was accepted. There was, however, a problem. The tuition was 800 dollars for a 7-month course and we did not have the money.  I got help from a patient in the Lebanon Hospital. She made a few calls and I was accepted as a summer camp doctor with a salary of one thousand dollar for  the season.  I had permission to bring my children and a possibility that Sam would get a job in the camp.  I was able to afford the course. Suddenly the future looked less gloomy.

In the meantime Sam was able to earn money as a dental technician. We rented a front apartment with two bedrooms and a view of the park. The new apartment was not available until September.   Our friends the Salamons came with a proposition. They offered to keep our belonging, which were not much, in their apartment for the two months.  This way we were  able to save money.  I do not know of any one who could have been be as giving as the Salamons.  They hardly knew anything about us, and they were sure of our integrity and honesty. No help came from my aunt Molly or from my distant cousins the Lempert  family.

Since the future became  more realistic, I was able to concentrate on preparation for the licensing examination. I became confident that eventually I would be able to practice medicine. I became brave enough to ask for a loan.  I applied to a Jewish. Organization to help to New Americans NYANA.  We needed  financial help.  I approached the organization with a request for a loan to be paid back after I complete the residency. I was told that since I have an aunt whose husband is a physician, I should ask them for a loan. What they did not know was that the welcoming gift from Pola and Zalman Plotkin was a check for 10 dollars. Of course we did not ask them for help .We managed.  Sam knew how to survive.  But we needed more that Sam could manage to earn. I called the social service of NYANA.  I did not tell Sam anything. I asked for a short term loan. It’s what they did for immigrants who did not have a family in USA. I felt humiliated, but I decided to go through with it .My call was answered by one of the social workers.  She understood our situation,  and we were granted a small loan.  It was repaid even earlier than I promised.

The loan helped me in proceeding with the applications for the NY State board for the license to practice medicine in NY State. I received a letter from Albany, stating that I have to complete a Post Graduate Course at NYU, followed by three years of hospital training. The future definitely looked much better.

The summer passed and we moved in to the new apartment.  We stayed in this apartment until I finished my residency.  I passed the board examination in Maine and few months later in Virginia. I needed it, because I wanted to have the freedom to move my family to the north or to the south. Finally, we decided it would be best for to stay in New York. His knowledge of the English language, although very limited, became functional.  With the financial help of the Salamons we were able to bring our luggage from Le Havre to New York. At this point we were helped by  friends from Lida, Isaac and Sulamit Lasky.  The Laskys were survivors of the Holocaust .  They  fought as partisans in the forests of Belarus .Isaac took in our  large wooden crates . The crates contained all we were able to take along from Poland. Most of the contents were of no value. There was a refrigerator, a washing machine, kitchen utensils. In two cases, however was our collection of paintings, ivory, crystal , and a limited amount of silver objects. Isaac Lasky kept the huge wooden crates in his business warehouse.

Sam was able to sell paintings we brought. With the money he made, he bought other paintings. This way we got the Monsted  street landscape  and The Felix Ziem, the towers of Istambul. The Monsted is in Mary’s home , the Ziem is in my bedroom.

Roman attended a public school, Mary was in an advanced program in a public school. The following year Henry Lempert gave us a gift, a used convertible Pontiac, still in running condition. We had a car!!!  Sam was able to take the children to Bear Mountain Park and to the beach. The following summer we rented a small bungalow in the Catskills. We stayed there for two weeks.  It was the summer when the Berlin wall was built. Mary and Roman made friends in the bungalow colony. We met families from Poland and we were able to socialize for the first time in the USA. I was more sure of my ability to pass the exams and to start the life of a free person in a free country.

During the Postgraduate Cours, I met a fellow student from Poland, Michal.  We shared our lunches. If one brought a sandwich, the other would buy a coffee. We studied together. Finally after passing the boards in Virginia, he settled there and became a psychiatrist .We lost contact and it was my fault. I do not write letters.

The curriculum of the course was excellent. I excelled in the study and it gave me the self -assurance and hope that the future will be good. Sam was doing well in the art business He was selling from home and he had several paintings on consignment.

I studied day and night. I decided to specialize in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation after Dr. Howard Rusk, the creator of this field of medicine, gave  a 2 hour lecture to our  NYU class. He was an excellent speaker and he knew how to present the subject in an attractive light. I was accepted to begin  residency at NYU  Bellevue Hospital. The director of the service was Dr. Bruce Grynberg. He took me under his wing. Six months later I was nominated the Chief Resident of the service. It was a very important position in the ranks of doctors in training. I had to schedule  the on duty calls. Within my responsibility was scheduling  vacation time .Some of my  fellow residents resented  the fact that I was assigned to this position over the doctors with more experience. There was a time when I felt strongly that Bruce Grynbaum is a friend. It was when Sam was dying in the University Hospital. I met him in the elevator. He hugged me and I was able to cry on his shoulder. He was kind and very understanding and I will always remember it.

There were a few episodes during my residency training in Bellevue Hospital that are worth describing. One of the patients, a paraplegic was a drug dealer, shot by a policeman .The bullet severed his spinal cord. He was suave, handsome, well spoken a very manipulative man. I was told to be careful because he may be dangerous. We had a disagreement, I did not give in, and for several weeks I was afraid that he migh harm me. Bellevue Hospital was a special place. The building was old and dirty, infested by mice and roaches.  The corridors were poorly lit and long. And one never felt safe on call at night.When called in emergency, I walked the corridors fearing for my safety. Bellevue had a prison ward and a large psychiatry ward. Since that time the old building has demolished and a new Bellevue was built. In spite of the physical deficiencies, the medical training was excellent, and I am still proud of being a Bellevue doctor.

 My sister Ella, Michel and son Andrew arrived to the USA in December of 1958. They went directly to Providence, Rhode Island. They were accepted to internships at the Miriam Hospital. It was an easier start, since the hospital provided room and board and salary. The following year, Ella moved to Bridgeport, Connecticut for residency training in the Bridgeport Hospital. Michel remained in Providence. Andrew was with Ella. He was a brave little boy. Often when Ella was on call, Andrew was left alone in the house. One night, there was a thunderstorm and Andy needed his mother. He did not remember the name of the hospital. He was smart enough to dial the city operator and to ask her to find his mother, a doctor on call in a hospital he did not know the name. The phone operator was a kind person. The operator found Ella and Andy was safe. It was a nice gesture. There are people like this phone operator, but they are still a rarity. Within a year I managed to get Ella a residency in a hospital in New York, while Michel moved to Bridgeport and Andy was suspended between two worlds. Eventually Michel got a fellowship in the Albert Einstein hospital and the family was united. Ella, being an experienced and talented  OB.GYN specialist was recognized by her superiors and in a short time she made friends among the attending staff. The next step for both of us was to pass the examination and to become licensed to practice in New York State.

 There was, however, another strange incident in 1961. And again it was caused by Sam’s trust in human honesty and fairness. Since he had no gallery to display and to sell paintings, he was placing the paintings in different stores on consignment, usually by a handshake. I knew nothing about his deals. It means, he would tell me that he left a painting for sale, but he would not tell for how much and where. He thought that I have no idea about business matters. And I did not, until his death, when I had to use my intuition and put the pieces together. It was very complicated, but I learned fast. Some people took advantage of the fact that Sam’s dealings were not well documented.

But let’s go back to the strange story that happened one day of 1961. I finished the 34 hour working day in the hospital. It was a pay day. I felt wealthy. On my way home I stopped in a shoe store and I bought a decent pair of shoes. When I opened door of our apartment, I saw Sam pale and frightened . There were strangers in the apartment, a  woman and two tall men - plain cloth detectives. I did not see the children. Sam looked at me and he told me in Polish, “something awful had happened”. I asked him where are the children?  His answer was that  Mary and Roman are in their room and they are well. My response was, if all family is well and together there is nothing we are not able to face. The woman’s name was Finkelstein. She was the owner of a booth in the diamond center on 47 street. Earlier the same day ,Sam was there and he left a painting on consignment. After Sam left, she noticed that she was missing some jewelry from the display case. She called the detectives assigned to the diamond center and they decided that the suspect is my husband. They came to see if we had it. There was no search warrant. They asked the permission to look around. Permission granted, they searched the apartment. They found the dental work that Sam was preparing for one of his patients. He had no license to practice dentistry and therefore the discovery of the work in progress could mean trouble. When they left we decided that we will need a lawyer. The detectives were very polite and understanding. The Finkelstein woman, a Jewish woman from Krakow, was abusive. The next day we visited a lawyer. It was a man I met in the children’s summer camp. He assured us that this kind of accusation is not unusual. I went back to the hospital. In the afternoon I phoned one of the detectives. Again, he was very polite and reassuring. The following day Sam had a call from Finkelstein that the jewelry was recovered. The thief came to another booth on 47 street to sell the lot. Since everyone had been notified, the thief was apprehended and the lot was returned to Finkelstein. She called Sam with apologies. She also offered a bracelet, a gift for me, a pay for the aggravation. Of course the gift was rejected. It is strange that Sam, with his trust in the goodness of the human nature, was being hurt again.

 In the summer of 1961 I passed  the medical board examination.  I registered with the Emergency doctors service and I was ready to make money. I took emergency calls in Harlem earning 10 dollars for a house call. This was done after the long days of work in the hospital. Sam and our friend Henry Salamon walked with me . They stayed on the street, while I visited the sick people in their apartments. It was always a walk up, with dark lobby and staircase. Crime was not so prevalent at that time. And, again, I trusted people and I was not aware of the dangers of so-called “bad neighborhoods”. It was a good experience. I learned about the city and about its diverse population.