Tuesday 26 January 2016, saw the launch of the new and innovative Magen David Adom Volunteer Community First Responders Program that every Israeli citizen with basic first aid training can be a part of. A special mobile phone application will identify the location of the nearest Community First Responder to the patient in need of assistance and activate him/her immediately, thereby providing speedier response times to a person suffering from potentially life threatening medical problems, such as unconsciousness or cardiac arrest. At the same time, additional measures will be taken: the MDA EMT/Paramedic Dispatcher will provide medical guidelines over the phone to the caller and an MDA ambulance or Mobile Intensive Care Unit and MDA professional First Responders on Medi-Cycles will be also dispatched to the scene within 2-5 minutes – to save a life and to reduce the chance of further disability. The innovative project, which in Hebrew is called “Ne’emaney Haim” – “Life Guardians,” calls upon all Israelis who have undergone 20 hours of basic CPR and First Aid training to join in and take an active role. MDA predicts that within a few months, thousands of Volunteer Community First Responders will be activated as part of this new national, community person to person emergency support and response system.
