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A.L. Kushner

@alkushner.bsky.social

1.2K followers 3.8K following 290 posts

Former surgeon, now (mostly) stay-at-home dad. WIP, a memoir “Lessons from Chaos: Notes of a “Simple” Surgeon, sort of Anthony Bourdain with a scalpel. Join my mail list at alkushner.com

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A.L. Kushner @alkushner.bsky.social · 21d

Memoir update: 47k words, 82 chapters.

New working title: Lessons from Chaos: Notes of a ‘Simple’ Surgeon.

Grateful for the encouragement so far, it keeps me writing.

Chapter 1: An Idiot. It begins with this Newsweek cover. Opening days of the war in Slovenia, I was next to the photographer. 😬

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A.L. Kushner @alkushner.bsky.social · 16m

😂😂

Reposted by A.L. Kushner

A.L. Kushner @alkushner.bsky.social · 15h

Working with the US military, I taught soldiers about humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, including human rights and international humanitarian law. It helped commanders accomplish their mission and saved military and civilian lives. #LessonsFromChaos #humanitarian #military #ethics

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A.L. Kushner @alkushner.bsky.social · 8h

8 am Westchester Lagoon #winteriscoming

Reposted by A.L. Kushner

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 1d

i desperately want everyone involved in the destruction of USAID to have to, st the very least, answer to the american people for the suffering and misery they have caused apnews.com/article/myan...

Starving children screaming for food as US aid cuts unleash devastation and death across Myanmar

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has repeatedly said “no one has died" because of his government’s decision to gut its foreign aid program.

apnews.com

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A.L. Kushner @alkushner.bsky.social · 15h

Yep. Felt that one

A.L. Kushner @alkushner.bsky.social · 15h

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A.L. Kushner @alkushner.bsky.social · 16h

Anchorage plans changes to improve snowplow operations ahead of winter season www.adn.com/alaska-news/... (Let’s hope it helps)

Anchorage plans changes to improve snowplow operations ahead of winter season

Residents will be able to track the progress of the city’s snow fleet as it clears roads and sidewalks with GPS tracking in place.

www.adn.com

Reposted by A.L. Kushner

Professor Brandon Hamber @brandonhamber.bsky.social · 1d

A forgotten conflict, at least in the West. More than 20 people killed in central #Myanmar after the military launched motorised paraglider attacks during a candlelight vigil

Dozens killed in Myanmar after armed paraglider attack: Reports

Amnesty International says the military launched a paraglider attack on a nighttime civilian gathering.

www.aljazeera.com

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A.L. Kushner @alkushner.bsky.social · 22h

Same here. Including this one: Twitter and mobile technology as diagnostic aids in the Democratic Republic of Congo pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22196637/

Twitter and mobile technology as diagnostic aids in the Democratic Republic of Congo - PubMed

Twitter and mobile technology as diagnostic aids in the Democratic Republic of Congo

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

A.L. Kushner @alkushner.bsky.social · 1d

Friends are reading my manuscript and talking about it with others who are requesting to read the draft. I’ll take that as a good sign 😎

A.L. Kushner @alkushner.bsky.social · 1d

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A.L. Kushner @alkushner.bsky.social · 1d

Once in Sierra Leone, surgery almost stopped for want of light bulbs.
#LessonsFromChaos #globalhealth #surgery #SierraLeone

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A.L. Kushner @alkushner.bsky.social · 2d

I once stopped operating to help in a cholera camp. Some international staff weren’t happy. But it helped more patients survive.

Sometimes doing the right thing means changing your focus.

#LessonsFromChaos #humanitarian #cholera #globalhealth

A.L. Kushner @alkushner.bsky.social · 2d

Bottom line, without security probably not worth trying and locals are the experts so single solutions from West aren’t really useful

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A.L. Kushner @alkushner.bsky.social · 2d

An MPH student contacted me about setting up humanitarian trauma responses. Don’t think he expected to hear what I had to say 🤷‍♂️

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A.L. Kushner @alkushner.bsky.social · 3d

www.msf.org/afghanistan-... Hard to believe it’s been 10 years

Afghanistan: Kunduz ten years on | MSF

On 3 October 2015, an airstrike destroyed our trauma hospital in Kunduz, killing our patients, friends, and colleagues. Today, we have a new trauma centre open in Kunduz.

www.msf.org

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A.L. Kushner @alkushner.bsky.social · 3d

The myth: humanitarian missions are heroic.

The reality: they’re messy, political, and often absurd. LESSONS FROM CHAOS is my take. Think Anthony Bourdain with a scalpel.

#LessonsFromChaos #memoir #humanitan

A.L. Kushner @alkushner.bsky.social · 3d

Years in war zones taught me humanitarian work isn’t heroic.
It’s mostly improvisation, survival, and failure.

That’s Lessons From Chaos.

A.L. Kushner @alkushner.bsky.social · 3d

Scrubbing for surgery in Sierra Leone

A.L. Kushner @alkushner.bsky.social · 4d

Daisy #rescuedogs

A.L. Kushner @alkushner.bsky.social · 4d

Rainy in Anchorage. Seems like a good day to make a crockpot of chili 😋

A.L. Kushner @alkushner.bsky.social · 4d

Hospitals without water. Operating by flashlight. Crocodile and hippo attacks. War wounds that never made the news. That’s the reality I lived as a surgeon in impossible places. #LessonsFromChaos #globalhealth #surgeon #memoir

A.L. Kushner @alkushner.bsky.social · 5d

🤬

A.L. Kushner @alkushner.bsky.social · 5d

Ever wonder what it’s really like on an @MSF mission?

It’s not just medicine. It’s chaos, survival, and the absurdity of being human. That’s what my memoir LESSONS FROM CHAOS is about. #LessonsFromChaos #MSF #memoir #WritingCommunity

Reposted by A.L. Kushner

Yle News @yle.naamio.social · 6d

The National Defence Training Association also plans to offer anti-personnel landmine training.

Finnish conscripts to begin anti-personnel landmine training next year

The National Defence Training Association also plans to offer anti-personnel landmine training.

yle.fi

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