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In what may be the largest purchase of defibrillators ever made in Israel, volunteer emergency medical services (EMS) organization United Hatzalah recently purchased 1,000 defibrillators for its volunteers. The amount needed to purchase the defibrillators was donated through a matching grant campaign that was run at the end of 2015 and by various donations over the course of 2016. “I want every EMT, paramedic, and doctor who volunteers with our organization to have a defibrillator,” said President and Founder Eli Beer. Beer added that “my dream is that any person under cardiac arrest will be able to have a trained volunteer with a defibrillator arrive to help them in under 90 seconds, no matter where they are in the country. Whether they are in the Golan, Sderot, a small Arab or Druse village, Eilat, or in the heart of the Negev, no one needs to die from a treatable cardiac arrest.”

The cardiac division of United Hatzalah was named in honor of Bezalel Binyamin, a young boy who passed away due to a cardiac arrest. The first defibrillators from the recent purchase will be handed out to volunteers in the coming days.

“The reason why United Hatzalah has so much success in life-saving is that our goal is to arrive at the scene of a medical emergency in less than 90 seconds. When a responder arrives with a defibrillator in such a short amount of time, the chance of survival for the person suffering a cardiac arrest increases tremendously. With the addition of more volunteers equipped with defibrillators and spread out in cities, towns, and communities across the country, we can hit the 90 second response time mark on a national level. We can and we will,” Beer declared.

“When I know that a 55-year-old man’s life is saved and his family is kept whole by one of our volunteers with a defibrillator, it gives me the strength to keep doing what I do,” he added.

This year, the organization is launching another matching campaign whose goal is to increase the number of volunteers operating around the country, so it can continue to lower EMS response times. So far, the organization has succeeded in lowering the national response time to under three minutes. In major urban centers, such as Jerusalem and parts of the Tel Aviv metropolitan area, the response time has hit the 90-second threshold. The newest additions to the Bezalel Binyamin cardiac division will be operational and distributed to volunteers in the field over the next few weeks.

Photos: Pictured are the first 200 defibrillators delivered to United Hatzalah. They defibrillators are being prepared for delivery to the volunteers.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem/Photo Credit: United Hatzalah)