MDA israel

Each year during the summer holidays, Magen David Adom holds its traditional summer courses that aim to improve MDA's Youth Volunteers' medical skills. Some 1,500 volunteers undergo the training throughout the summer, including learning how to save lives in areas with very limited resources.

MDA's summer courses began in July and continue throughout the summer, providing a range of different skills and qualifications. These include a young instructors course, that teachers the youth volunteers how to train others in first aid at special community days; a disaster region leadership scheme, where the participants train in the provision of advanced treatment in multi-casualty incidents and disaster zones, with no medical equipment; and a youth volunteer instructor's course that gives the volunteers the ability to train the next generation of young volunteers as they join MDA.

Yet another course that takes place is the Ta'aran course – the multi-casualty vehicle training program, where the volunteers learn how to work and save lives in the complex mass-casualty scenario that could affect dozens, or even hundreds of injured. Two of these courses take place each summer, with hundreds of participants in each.

Some 3,400 youths who have been training for the past year to be first aid providers have recently completed their training and started volunteering on ambulances and mobile intensive care units (MICUs) across Israel.

MDA Director General Eli Bin: "It's very exciting to see youth volunteers spending their free time during the holidays learning and volunteering with Magen David Adom and saving lives. The human element is MDA's greatest strength, and MDA's youth volunteers are a vitally important asset to our organization. The summer months are a significant period in training our youth volunteers and improving their life-saving skills."