The violence in Israel has caused about a 10 per cent spike in the number of daily phone calls to United Hatzalah of Israel, a non-profit, civilian emergency medical response network, says Eli Beer, the organization’s president and co-founder.
“Before, our volunteers got 700 calls or so a day, and now we’re getting an extra 50 to 70 each day,” Beer, a paramedic of over 26 years who co-created United Hatzalah in1989.
Beer was in Toronto last month and spoke at Shaarei Shomayim Congregation and Beth Torah Congregation and to private groups in the Jewish community about his experiences treating victims of terrorist attacks in Israel.
He told The CJN that a large number of the additional calls United Hatzalah is getting have to do with terror attacks such as stoned cars or stabbings, but many also come from people having panic attacks.
“We get calls from elderly people, some who are Holocaust survivors, in areas where there’s a lot of terrorism, who need someone to help calm them down,” he said.
United Hatzalah is Israel’s largest independent, fully volunteer-run emergency medical services organization.
Its close to 3,000 volunteers have all undergone United Hatzalah’s 200-hour medical training program.
It delivers free and immediate emergency medical services to those in need, regardless of race or religion and “everywhere in the country we can,” Beer said.
“We have Jews and Arabs working together. We have volunteers that come from east Jerusalem and want to save lives.”
United Hatzalah co-ordinates with the multitude of ambulance services – Beer said there are about 100 different ones in Israel, including national and local companies – and is notified any time there is an emergency call.
All its volunteers have a GPS app on their phones that within the first few seconds after a call comes in, sends an alert to anyone who happens to be in the immediate area of the emergency.
This allows them to get to the site within two to three minutes and to administer treatment to those in crisis before an ambulance arrives.
“The whole idea behind United Hatzalah is not to compete with the ambulance services, but complement them,” Beer stressed.
The volunteers typically have day jobs, ranging “from doctors to fish vendors,” Beer said, but if an emergency happens nearby, they’re committed to dropping everything to assist or save a life.
Beer emphasized that some of the volunteers are Arab, Muslim and Christian.
United Hatzalah is funded by donors around the world, mostly from the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, and the donations allow the organization to purchase what it calls “ambucycles” – medically equipped motorcycles – and other equipment. About 400 of the volunteers use ambucycles.
Beer said United Hatzalah volunteers focus on treating victims and never encounter dilemmas as to whether to administer medical treatment to terrorists. As civilian medical responders, they’re not allowed to go near terrorists until the police have arrived and checked to ensure the former aren’t hiding additional weapons.
“By the time [terrorists] are ready to be treated, the [actual] ambulances have shown up,” Beer said.
Asked if he thought Israel was in the midst of a third intifadah, Beer, said: “I think it’s stupid terrorism… Terrorism that comes from people who are uneducated, not sophisticated.”
While Beer and friends started the organization in a religious area of Jerusalem, they decided “to go beyond our neighbourhood, because our goal is to go everywhere and have a very fast response. Today we have a lot of very Orthodox people who will drive [to sites of crisis] even on Shabbat to save lives, but almost half our volunteers are not religious, and about seven per cent aren’t Jewish.”
Saving lives takes precedence over other responsibilities in Judaism, he said, and United Hatzalah is working to expand internationally, including to countries such as Lithuania, Panama and Brazil.
“This [service] should be offered everywhere in the world, not just in Jewish communities,” Beer said