Alissa is a young paramedic who faced an immense challenge on October 7 when she was asked to enter the battle zone unprotected and under fire to treat soldiers and civilians who had been wounded. She, along with a number of other MDA EMTs and paramedics, opened a treatment site as close as possible to where the shooting was taking place, where she received severely wounded patients.
Alissa and her team laid out stretchers and placed an advanced first aid kit next to each one. She prepared supplies to stop the patients’ bleeding, splint broken bones, and ease their pain by providing medication. Alissa counted the medical supplies she had and calculated how many patients she would be able to treat.
At the same time, Alissa contacted nearby MDA stations and asked them to deliver more medical supplies and equipment to her location. She did all of this with the sound of gunshots in the background, and although she was afraid, Alissa tells us that she didn’t stop to think about the tremendous danger she was in; instead, she focused all of her energy on doing the job that she was trained for – saving lives in battle.
When the IDF began rescuing kibbutz residents and others from the area, the soldiers brought the most severely wounded among them to the nearest treatment site – the one Alissa had set up. She provided lifesaving treatment, including complex medical procedures to assist those who had been shot to breathe more easily, sedating patients, reporting their situation to the hospitals where they were soon to be transferred, and more.
How did she handle the pressure?
Alissa had effectively set up and was running a field emergency room. If it weren’t for the relentless gunfire and the countless times she had to use her own body to shield her patients, one might mistakenly think this was just another MDA emergency preparation drill. But this was the real thing, and Alissa did not disappoint.
“I did everything that could be done in the field. I gave each patient a few minutes, all in order to transfer the patients to the hospital as quickly as possible. I really only had a few minutes for each of them. I wrote down a quick medical history, stopped patients’ bleeding, administered drugs, and gave instructions to the ambulance teams to ensure optimal continuity of care so that all of the soldiers and civilians who reached us would survive. Like many others, I saw some very difficult things that day. Everything was covered in blood. Every few minutes, we tried to clear things up to make it easier to deal with the patients, but in truth, we were working under very difficult conditions.”
“One of the casualties who was brought to me had been ambushed by terrorists and was in critical condition. He had sustained several gunshot wounds, and he was pale and sweating. All of the signs indicated that he was in a bad state and was probably in the last few minutes of his life. But I refused to give up on him. I stopped his bleeding, gave him medication, carried out medical procedures, and did everything I possibly could to keep him alive. I’m delighted to say that he survived and today we’re close friends. I stayed in touch with him while he was hospitalized, and we even recited the Friday night prayers together. He’s healthy, strong, and has no physical disabilities.”
Alissa and her team worked a very long shift that day, which only ended after sunrise on October 8. She tells us that of all the things she saw and experienced that day, what touched her most was when the residents saw the treatment site she’d set up and brought her food and drink.
“That humanity, that compassion – that’s what moved me. Part of the treatment we gave that day was compassion. People arrived very confused; many of them hadn’t yet had time to understand what had happened, how suddenly they were wounded and in critical condition. They were in shock. I did everything I could to calm them: I spoke to them while treating them, I encouraged them, I explained what I was doing, and made sure that they were as comfortable as possible amid all of the difficulty.”
Alissa was called up for IDF reserve duty days after October 7 and served for six months in Gaza. During her service, she had the privilege of saving the lives of many soldiers and even a dog from the Oketz Canine Special Forces Unit, which was wounded in Gaza. No one who meets Alissa can ignore the wonderful combination of professionalism and compassion she embodies. 