Beatie the champion

Beatie (Bracha) Deutsch broke her own record in Capetown last month, thus giving her hope that she will meet with all the qualifications that will enable her to participate in the Tokyo Olympics.

By GREER FAY CASHMAN
Beatie Deutsch (photo credit: Courtesy)
Beatie Deutsch
(photo credit: Courtesy)
■ CHAMPION MARATHON runner Beatie (Bracha) Deutsch broke her own record in Capetown last month, thus giving her hope that she will meet with all the qualifications that will enable her to participate in the Tokyo Olympics next year, although she’s still a few seconds short of the tough qualifying standards.
Deutsch, 30, who used to live in the capital’s Har Nof neighborhood, now lives in Beit Shemesh with her husband and their five children. If she is selected for Israel’s Olympic team, she will be the first haredi athlete to represent the country in the world’s best known, best-attended and most widely watched on television sporting event.
Her only problems could be that she will again be pregnant or that her marathon contests will be scheduled for Shabbat. Being pregnant may not be an obstacle. She ran the Tel Aviv Marathon when seven months pregnant, but she’s missed out on a few marathon races in the past because they were held on Shabbat.
Aside from the fact that she represents a breakthrough for haredi women, the other incredible thing about Deutsch is that she started running seriously only four years ago. While growing up in New Jersey, it was just fun with her family on the beach.
The eldest of five siblings, who, like her mother, had babies in quick succession, she took up marathon running to get back into shape.
In recent years, Olympic women athletes have worn ever skimpier clothing when competing. As so many of them have excellent figures, one suspects that the skimpy fashion was yet another means of drawing attention to themselves.
Deutsch follows haredi fashion trends even when running. She wears a skirt instead of shorts; the sleeves of her top cover her elbows and she wears a kerchief over her hair.
Running is not just an ego trip for her. She uses it to create awareness and raise funds for Beit Daniella, a therapeutic facility in Tzur Hadassah which treats adolescents with eating disorders and other illnesses, which could be fatal if left untreated.
■ RETIRED SURGEON Steve Sattler, who is also a volunteer policeman and whose interests include the history of trains, was invited to lecture to members of the Jerusalem District Police at their New Year toast at the Magen David Adom auditorium.
Acutely conscious of the fact that not all policemen know what to do in an emergency situation in which one or more people are injured, Sattler prepared a PowerPoint presentation to go along with his address, and spent more than an hour and a half explaining not only how to provide emergency treatment until the paramedics arrive but also how various injuries affect various parts of the body. Because of this, his subject matter was extremely varied, veering from bullet holes in the cranium, lead allergy from fragmented bullets, injuries from ricocheted bullets, to chest wounds from bullets or knives.
He also spoke of injuries sustained in motor vehicle crashes and of the dangers of victims being treated by well-meaning but untrained individuals who can exacerbate the situation by causing permanent neck or spinal injuries while trying to remove the victim from the car.
Sattler had advised that even though the spontaneous reaction of a Good Samaritan would be to do everything possible to get the victim out of the car, this should be left strictly to the experts who know how to handle the victim in order to avoid further injury.
He also went through the checklist of the trauma surgeon who deals with the injured party – namely, whether the injuries are physical, mental or the result of attempted suicide. The surgeon also has to deal with the family of the injured party.
To make sure that his audience had absorbed at least some of what he had told them, Sattler subsequently conducted a quiz about crashes, injuries and knife attacks, and says that most of the senior police officers were deserving of a fair to OK assessment of their knowledge of first aid.
The other important thing, of course, is that when there is a professional dealing on site with a patient, don’t try to tell the professional what to do. He or she is well aware of what needs to be done; professionals don’t need kibitzers breathing down their necks.