The MDA Youth Organization
The MDA Youth Organization is a voluntary association which aims to facilitate youth volunteering activities as part of Magen David Adom in Israel.
The Organization encourages acquiring skills and providing first aid by teenagers in the State of Israel. It arranges events and seminars to promote the training of active volunteers in MDA. It also works to increase awareness of health and saving lives.
Board members:
Mr. Elazar Gelbstein, Chairperson of the Organization (member of the Jerusalem Municipality Council and CEO of Chevra Kadisha [Jewish burial society [in Jerusalem).
Dr. Magen Eli Jaffe (Director - PR, Training & FR Division in MDA).
Mrs. Shosh Sverdlov (Director Treasury Department in MDA).
Mr. Pinchas Rothschild (former Division Director of in the Ministry of Education).
Prof. Haim Knobler.
Dr. Yehezkel Caine.
Mr. Gideon Langman (School Principal).
Members of the Audit Committee:
CPA Yehezkel Haba - Chairperson.
Mrs. Rachel Ikar - Cohen.
Legal Adviser – Adv. Eitan Tsachor
CPA of Mualem & Mualem Office.
Since MDA was founded in 1930, youth have been participating in its operational activities: from the youth brigades in the war of independence, through evacuating casualties in Israel's wars and the murderous terrorist attacks in the 1970s, to the unprecedentedly painful terrorist attacks in the 1990s, youth have always been among the first to answer the call. Every year, hundreds of thousands of Israeli residents who require MDA services, get to see these young angels at work. This noteworthy youth activity, which has been going on continuously for dozens of years now, is quite extraordinary.
More than 7,500 teenagers aged 15 to 18 volunteer in Magen David Adom and literally "make a life": they perform advanced level CPRs; save people wounded in car accidents and work accidents; care for the sick at critical times. They do all that after school, in their spare time, without being paid in return. These teenagers regard their difficult and demanding tasks as both personal and national mission.
MDA Youth volunteers represent all sectors of population and nationality: Jews and Arabs, religious and secular, immigrants and natives, urban residents and members of the rural settlements.
On average, youth invest about 8 hours a week and pay by themselves for their training. Preconditions for their work are a 60 hour course of first aid studies, passing the exams and attending continued training.
In aggregate, youth invest in their MDA activities more than 1,500,000 hours of volunteering per year - which is an enterprise of international scale.
Many of MDA volunteers continue volunteering even during their IDF service and return to MDA, for recruitment as adult volunteers.
The MDA Youth Organization, involved in MDA stations throughout Israel, has served "overtime" during the latest terrorist attacks. The teenagers assist the teams while outside of the scene of events, where their lives are not in danger. Volunteering in MDA is an activity that requires mental sturdiness and physical effort.
Each year, the number of volunteers in the Youth Organization reaches about 6,000.
The minimal term of volunteering required of the youth is two years. They dedicate to volunteering 8 hours a week.
To perform the volunteering functions, the volunteers takes a 60 hour course of first aid, at the end of which, the volunteer must pass a final exam, both theoretical and practical. Volunteers take this course on their own free time and pay a part of its cost with their pocket money.
During the volunteering, the volunteers undergo advanced courses for handling mass casualty event; providing treatment as part of a mobile ICU crew; leadership course; training course and more. These courses take place during school summer vacation. The youths' willingness to meet challenges posed by courses and spend their vacation time serving the general public is truly great and heartwarming. The many hours invested by the young volunteers would probably earn them additional matriculation units, but it turns out that for ideals and fulfillment they are willing to learn more and sometimes even do much better.
Youth volunteering in MDA is an expression of additional values beyond the sanctity of life and saving lives: the values of society, democracy and unity in Israel.
Volunteering in MDA brings together religious and secular volunteers, for whom, in many cases, it's their first meeting with the "other side", which provides them with exposure to shared values and reaffirmed acknowledgment of the ability to live together in one organization and certainly in one country. In present day reality, rarely can you find Saturdays, parties and social activities spent together by religious and secular youth. However, in MDA such things are a fact of life. Among MDA volunteers are new immigrants from the CIS and Ethiopia, working side by side with their native "Sabras" peers. The shared operational and social activities contribute significantly to the integration of new immigrant youths in Israeli society.
MDA youths are exposed to the values of democracy by holding elections for the Youth Secretariat and the Youth Council, and by following the resolutions adopted by these organs. Youth exposure to democratic reality as experienced by MDA youths is hard to find anywhere else.
