New Group of Bedouin Women Become EMTs in Israel’s Galilee
A new team of 13 Bedouin women and four men from the Arab towns of Shibli and Umm al-Ghanam have just completed their training to become EMS first responders and respond to medical emergencies in their vicinity. The new graduates will volunteer as medical first responders in their hometown and vicinity with the national EMS volunteer organization United Hatzalah.
“The new group of volunteers are very close-knit and very excited to learn these new skills and be able to provide EMS services in their communities,” said EMS instructor Samara Allah the United Hatzalah instructor who taught the group of new EMTs. “The women in the group are especially excited as it allows them to help those in need around them, something which they all have a strong desire to do”
United Hatzalah Founder and President expressed his appreciation for the new volunteers. “One of the main reasons why we felt that this project was important is because the women who make up the crux of this course often stay at home or work in their towns during the day, much more than the men do. Thus these new volunteers will be able to provide an emergency medical response in their towns during the daytime hours something which has been lacking thus far. They will provide EMS services in their own towns of Shibli and Umm al-Ghanam as well as the Arab and Jewish towns in the vicinity, including Kfar Tavor and Ein Dor.”
Beer continued to say: “We are working to increase the number of volunteers in the Galilee and Israel’s periphery in an effort to reduce EMS response times across the area and especially in outlying Bedouin villages that often have long waits for ambulances. It is important to us to provide fast and professional emergency medical response to all of Israel’s citizens, regardless of their race, religion, ethnicity or gender.”
(Photos: The newly trained Bedouin volunteers perform CPR on a training mannequin Credit: Moshe Biton/United Hatzalah)
