IDF combat medics at Amdocs become United Hatzalah medics

New class of IDF combat medics mark graduation from the United Hatzalah combat medic-to-civilian emergency medical technicians’ course.

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
IDF combat medics graducate from United Hatzalah course. (photo credit: Courtesy)
IDF combat medics graducate from United Hatzalah course.
(photo credit: Courtesy)
A class of IDF combat medics marked their graduation on Thursday from a United Hatzalah course that qualifies them as civilian emergency medical technicians.
The course was designed to upgrade the vital knowledge the men and women learned in the IDF and capitalize on their hard-fought medical experience, where they treated wounded soldiers and civilians, often under fire.
The course took place at Amdocs-Israel, part of a global provider of software and services for communications, media and entertainment industry service providers.
The graduation ceremony took place at the main office in Ra’anana because half of the class’s IDF medics was recruited from the ranks of Amdocs employees.
The initiative, spearheaded by Niv Granot, coordinator of United Hatzalah’s Dror division, was designed to locate, train and deploy medical first responders within the Amdocs facilities as well as the surrounding communities.
These employees have volunteered with United Hatzalah (UH) to be on call around the clock, seven days a week and 365 days a year, during office hours and beyond.
Amdocs already has an active safety and emergency response team, but its collaboration with UH connects to a much broader network of medical support. Amdocs joins Harel Insurance and Finance along with other leading Israeli corporations which have taken their commitment to corporate social responsibility to the next level, said UH president and founder Eli Beer.
The benefits to Amdocs and the community were not long in coming. When one senior staff member fell seriously ill at work, an employee who is a UH volunteer raced to the scene from within the building and provided lifesaving intervention. In another incident a 75-year-old Ra’anana resident collapsed on the street, not far from the Amdocs offices. One of the company’s paramedics used a defibrillator donated by the Claims Conference and issued to him by UH to help resuscitate the elderly man.
Beer had only praise for all the people who made this initiative possible.
“United Hatzalah stands committed to ensure that every person across the wonderful geographic, social and religious spectrum that is Israel can benefit from the lifesaving rapid response of United Hatzalah,” he said.