(PHOTOS IN EXTENDED ARTICLE)

United States Assistant Secretary for Preparedness & Response (ASPR) Dr. Robert Kadlec, is visiting Israel and he visited Magen David Adom’s Kiryat Ono National Command Center, a guest of senior MDA commanders including MDA Chief of Operations, Eli Bin. Dr. Kadlec is the secretary’s principal advisor on matters related to public health emergencies, including bioterrorism.

The doctor was given a first-hand look at the technological capabilities of the nation’s leading EMS service, which is also responsible for Israel’s blood bank services. He was shown the various vehicles that make up the MDA fleet, riding in some of them, the dispatch center and given an explanation of how the system works, the redundancy that exists to prevent outages, and the advances made but the organization over the years, both medically and technologically, including the ‘My MDA’ app, which permits persons to call for assistance, providing vital patient information via the app, including one’s location. In addition, he was shown how the system tracks down responders by level of training and geographical location, with the computer deciding if EMTs, paramedics or physicians are required for a call based on information entered into the computer by the emergency call center dispatcher.

Dr. Kadlec stated, “MDA is one of the world’s leading EMS organizations. The experience of visiting the organization’s national control center was instructive and of utmost value towards strengthening our capabilities in dealing with disasters and emergencies”.

Chief Bin added, “The medical and technological capabilities that we constantly develop in MDA, for the sake of saving lives in the State of Israel, are the most advanced in the world. It was very exciting and gratifying. We were honored to have Assistant US Secretary of Health Dr. Robert Kadlec at MDA, Israel’s national EMS agency, and I thank him for the visit”.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem/Photo Credit: MDA Spokesman Unit)