Magen David Adom, as Israel's National Emergency Medical and Blood Services Orgnaization, has accumulated considerable experience in coping with mass casualty incidents. The "First 7 Minutes" project, initiated and developed by MDA and led by Deputy Director General- Community Dr. Eli Jaffe, aims to impart the knowledge and experience of Magen David Adom in communities around the world and provide their members with tools for dealing with emergencies.
At multiple seminars in Milwaukee last week, 150 Americans, showed great interest and attended the seminar and participated in a mass-casualty incident simulation. The MDA teams have been offering the seminar for over a year and a half, and have trained more than 3,000 people, in 15 countries including Canada, Australia, South America, Italy, Switzerland, Holland, Belgium, Greece and for the first time now in the United States.
The project is based on the fact that time saves lives. Guided by MDA teams in the United States and around the world, participants learn how to use 7 principles to save lives in a mass casualty scenario such as terror attacks. As part of the seminar, participants learn to control bleeding, which has been found to save the most lives.
The four-hour seminar is conducted by MDA's most experienced EMTs and paramedics. The seminar is constructed such that the participants are given a lecture and practical session followed by drills simulating MCIs (Multi-Casualty Incidents).
Raphael Herbst, MDA Paramedic and Project Coordinator: “ The seminar we held this week is the first in the United States, and was done in cooperation with American Friends of Magen David Adom and the Jewish Federation of Milwaukee, and this time, as in every seminar, we were able to provide the communities with tools to cope with difficult situations, by giving practical tools to empower the communities to take the steps to take lives."
MDA Deputy Director General- Community Dr. Eli Jaffe: "The goal of the project is to train members of the communities to know how to deal with a multi-casualty event in the first few critical moments. We are teaching the public what to do until emergency teams arrive, and how to help emergency teams upon their arrival. "
MDA Director General, Eli Bin: "At Magen David Adom we are saving lives every day throughout the country, and the satisfaction is tremendous every time. It is exciting to see how, thanks to the unique experience accumulated by medics and paramedics of Magen David Adom, we are able to influence and contribute to saving lives in many countries and continents around the world, and now also in the United States. The 'First 7 Minutes' is one of the projects we are most proud of, and it is one of many examples of the MDA people's commitment to give themselves wherever possible. "