Among the thousands of Sheikhs that attended the World Summit Conference that was held by the government of Dubai was Eli Beer, a Jewish Israeli and the Founder of United Hatzalah. Beer was invited by the head of the United Arab Emirates government to discuss how his organization saves hundreds of thousands of lives each year via United Hatzalah’s advanced EMS app and the country wide network of volunteers.
“I am a very proud Jew and I was very glad to receive the invitation” said Beer who is already working on establishing a chapter of the organization in Dubai.
The fourth annual World Summit Conference took place in the middle of February with attendees including thousands of Arab Sheikhs and businessmen from all over the middle east and the rest of the world. The title of the conference was “Innovation” and the conference saw hundreds of ideas tossed about and proposed to the government of Dubai. Each year the government decides to adopt some of the ideas to improve the day-to-day lives of the citizens of Dubai. Among the topics discussed are health, education, environmental protection and others. Beer discussed the Israeli social-medical innovation which saves hundreds of thousands of lives each year as he wowed the audience.
“Imagine for a moment thousands of Emergency Medical personnel – EMTs, paramedics, and doctors – who are going about their day to day lives,” Beer told them. “In the event that a person collapses nearby, a central communication center notifies the paramedic via an app that is based on a GPS locating system and sends the nearest paramedics to the scene. The arrive at the location of the injured person in under 90 seconds and apply first aid treatment until an ambulance arrives. Treatment at such a quick rate greatly increases the chances of the injured person to survive the incident and can prevent future medical problems that would be incurred by prolonged suffering.”
“A widespread national team of volunteers with medical training to save lives, coupled with advanced technology and medical ambucycles ambulance-motorcycles) that will get the volunteers to the location quickly, will save lives. And this isn’t just an idea,” Beer added, “this model already exists and is already operated by our organization in countries all over the world. We are called United Hatzalah.”
In Israel it has already become the norm that United Hatzalah volunteers respond to emergency situations, be they medical or security related in under two minutes. Arriving on high speed ambucycles complete with all of the necessary medical equipment to help treat a person and save their lives until an ambulance can arrive. In other parts of the world, this innovative-life-saving idea is not second nature, and is sweeping away anyone who hears about it. When the Dubai government heard about the revolutionary idea, they wasted no time in inviting Eli Beer to come and discuss the idea at the prestigious conference.
“I am a proud Israeli-American Jew and I was very glad to receive the invitation. Dubai is a very friendly place and an advanced country. Over the recent years they have been holding the conference in order to bring about a change in lifestyle for the people of Dubai. This Conference as yet another platform on which we could spread the life-saving message of United Hatzalah to another part of the world. Dubai attracts politicians and investors from all over the world and it is an important tourist and business center. I had the chance to meet with many heads of state and V.I.P.’s who can promote the idea of saving lives according to the United Hatzalah model in many other places in the world.”
It is noteworthy that United Hatzalah is in the preliminary stages of establishing an identical organization in Dubai to the one that it runs in Israel. Last year Eli Beer met with Shaffi Mather the founder of the Indian social ambulance organization ZIQITZA, and discussed a cooperative effort to establish sister organizations to United Hatzalah in Dubai, India and Bangladesh. Mather began collaborating with Beer two years ago when the two met in Davos. Mather immediately fell in love with the United Hatzalah model that allows trained EMS personnel to arrive at the scene of emergencies in under three minutes and saves thousands of lives each year. Mather invited Beer to work together to create a similar network of volunteers to work in India where his fleet of 1,600 ambulances works.
Together with the International Director of Operations Dov Maisel, Eli Beer filmed scenes of the two of them walking through the streets of Dubai dressed as Arab Sheikhs. Beer explained that a philanthropist who regularly donates to United Hatzalah heard that he was in Dubai and challenged Beer that if he and Maisel would walk through the streets of Dubai dressed as Sheikhs and document it, then the philanthropist would donate two ambucycles to the organization, a donation that is worth more than a quarter-of-a-million shekel. Ber and Maisel took up the challenge and filmed themselves talking in Hebrew in one of the central streets of Dubai.
“I am proud to be a Jew and to visit Arab countries and to change preconceptions,” said Beer. “I also believe that partnerships aimed at saving lives can further regional peace initiatives.”
Beer has made connections with people from all walks-of-life and religions through his effort to save lives. Due to such initiatives, Beer was awarded the Goldberg Prize for Peace in the Middle East in 2013 which was awarded to him by the Institute of International Education. The yearly prize is awarded to two people, one Arab and One Jew who are working to tear down the walls between their two people and remove the hatred of the “other” from society. Morad Elian who is the head of United Hatzalah activities in the Eastern half of Jerusalem won the prize together with Beer.
