“On October 7, Magen David Adom team members found themselves as key players in the worst tragedy Israel has ever experienced,” Uri Shacham, head of MDA’s Director-General’s Office, said Monday at The Jerusalem Post Annual Conference.
The organization was able to respond promptly on October 7 because of its 30,000-strong team of volunteers who heroically stepped forward, its state-of-the-art technology that enabled it to dispatch ambulances speedily, and its fleet of 1,400 ambulances, he said in an interview.
Fifteen minutes into the Hamas attack, MDA dispatchers received reports from personnel in the Gaza communities of shots being fired, Shacham said. By 7 am, Hamas terrorists had attacked an MDA ambulance, critically wounding the EMTs inside.
“The fact that everyone who needs medical assistance in the State of Israel calls Magen David Adom allowed us to understand the scale of the incident quite early,” he said. “This allowed us to make what turned out to be life-saving decisions, manning the entire fleet of 1,400 ambulances for the State of Israel.”
Even though MDA had no advance knowledge of the terrorist attack, the team responded swiftly and efficiently to the emergency, Shacham said.
“Did anyone come to Magen David Adom and tell us to be prepared for this kind of scenario?” he asked. “The answer is no. But was Magen David Adom prepared? The answer is unequivocally yes.”
MDA's shield project for emergency response
Communities that were well prepared on October 7 responded better and were able to save more lives than those that were unable to respond to the emergency conditions, Shacham said.
In response to the tragedies of that day, MDA has launched the Magen (Shield) project to train communities and supply them with life-saving equipment, special trailers, and ambulances, he said. By training a Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) and integrating it with local security professionals, MDA will ensure that wounded patients always receive critical care, even on the rare occasion when external teams cannot immediately reach the scene of an attack.
Shacham spoke about the bravery and heroism of MDA staff who risked their lives to provide medical care for those in need.
Amit Mann, a paramedic in Kibbutz Be’eri, treated the wounded and saved lives for seven hours until she was murdered by Hamas terrorists, he said.
Hadas, a paramedic, treated a critically wounded soldier in her ambulance, Shacham said, adding: “She thought that she couldn’t save him, but she promised him that she would, and she did save him.”
In addition to MDA’s blood bank, the organization also maintains a mothers’ milk bank, which has provided hundreds of liters of mothers’ milk to premature babies, to babies who were orphaned, whose mothers were abducted or wounded, and to babies of mothers who were called up for IDF service.
“Since October 7, we have been providing hope for Israelis, and nowadays, this is what Israelis need,” Shacham said.
MDA Director-General Eli Bin said: “October 7 demonstrated how essential Magen David Adom is for Israel’s security, with its professionalism, constant preparedness, and the dedication of its team members. Our men and women worked bravely in the Gaza [border communities] under unimaginable circumstances, a situation that cost five of our EMTs [emergency medical technicians] their lives that day.”
“The State of Israel is now facing a challenge of an unprecedented scale with the situation in the North and the threat of a multifront war,” he said. “But no matter what happens, we can assure the people of Israel that Magen David Adom will always be there – prepared and ready to save lives.”
Magen David Adom sponsored a portion of The Jerusalem Post Annual Conference.www.jpost.com/AC24