MDA israel

The Chabad Synagogue in Poway, California, was the scene of an attack just four years ago, that saw one person killed and several injured. Recently, Magen David Adom Paramedics and EMTs ran a project - First 7 Minutes - in the same community, as well as others, teaching community resilience, and especially what to do in the first few minutes of an incident, in order to help save lives. 

Raphael Herbst, senior MDA Paramedic and Deputy Director of MDA's International Relations Department explains about the unique training session: “What’s amazing about this training, is that it’s geared towards a community. Even if individuals tend to freeze, how does a community come together as a community, overcome the situation together. We talk about safety, how to call for help, how to work together as a community. How to stop the bleed, how to organize the scene. We actually do hands on so people actually are physically involved. They have a muscle memory, and they can feel they can actually deal with an extreme situation.”

Nate Rendler, a member of the synagogue who was present at the time of the terror attack four years ago,  commented on the training. “The big thing is just some practical methods of helping people in acute medical emergency. And I think I’m learning from the best.”

Magen David Adom staff have run the "First 7 Minutes" program in many locations around the world, in multiple languages, helping communities to save lives.