Recently in Tel Aviv, the American Heart Association trained instructors at United Hatzalah of Israel to become AHA faculty BLS and ACLS trainers – in other words, the AHA has now officially licensed United Hatzalah to train their own volunteers and have them recognized as officially AHA certified. United Hatzalah, an Uber-like volunteer Emergency Medical Service organization that provides free emergency medical first response throughout Israel, has been an AHA International Training Center (ITC) for the past two years but has now officially joined the faculty to become the Israeli branch of the International Training Centers.
United Hatzalah’s Medical Division Director, Alon Basker, was extremely excited about the fact that the group was about to become part of the AHA faculty. “Acting with professionalism and being the golden standard of emergency medicine is our goal,” he said. “We are spreading the word of the AHA throughout the country and standardizing the AHA protocols in our system”.
The AHA posted on their website that “This organization (United Hatzalah) is unique from other ITCs around the world. It emphasizes the “pre-ambulance” response, meaning they get there before the ambulance. When a medical emergency occurs and paramedics are alerted by dispatch, a GPS system alerts the nearest volunteers, who arrive by “ambucycle” and are able to get to the scene of the emergency in approximately 90-120 seconds. United Hatzalah has 5,000 volunteers, including paramedics, nurses, physicians, and other healthcare personnel, spread out around the country. This way, by the time the ambulance arrives, the patient has already received CPR and shocks from an AED.”
President and Founder of United Hatzalah Eli Beer embraced the new rank within the AHA ITC program. “The international partnership that we have with the AHA is one that is extremely important to us. Not only does it mean that our volunteers are being trained according to the highest protocols, but it means that the patients who receive treatment from our volunteers are receiving the highest level of care possible and they are receiving that care for free. I wish to thank the AHA for helping us maintain the highest standards of education and helping us hone the skills of our volunteers in accordance with the highest international standards.”
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