By Raphael Poch—
On Monday, United Hatzalah and Rabin Medical Center in Petach Tikvah announced a partnership that will see the two entities work together to cut down the waiting time and the overload of patient intake in the medical center’s emergency room (E.R.). The partnership will see United Hatzalah EMTs volunteer for shifts assisting the E.R. medical staff with patient intake and checkups and provide some much-needed additional manpower to the E.R. In return, the volunteers receive additional exposure to medical cases and be able to utilize and hone their skills as an EMT in the E.R. gaining exposure to secondary and tertiary evaluations and learning procedures that are not done exclusively in E.R.s.
Rabin Medical Center is the 21st medical center to join the organization’s E.R. Assistance Program in Israel. The program started nine years ago at the Rambam Medical Center in Haifa and now includes Ichilov Hospital, Assuta Ashdod, Rabin Medical Center, Barzilai Medical Center, Briyuta Be’er Sheva, Dimona Emergency Room, Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital, Galilee Medical Center, Ha’Emek Hospital, Hillel Yaffe, Wolfson Hospital, Ziv Hospital, Yad Sarah Emergency Room, Carmel Hospital, Laniado Hospital, Meir Medical Center, Poriya Hospital, Rambam Medical Center, Shaba Emergency Clinic in Bukata, and Sheba Tel HaShomer Hospital.
“The goal of the program is to help ER nurses treat patients faster while at the same time providing invaluable experience for our EMS personnel,” explained Chani Levanon, Director of United Hatzalah’s Emergency Room Assistance Program. “The program allows the nurses to be able to better manage patient intake, provide treatment faster, and streamline basic procedures, while at the same time providing the EMTs and paramedics who participate with valuable hands-on experience with trauma cases and patients suffering from shock. For EMTs who work in areas with a lower amount of traumatic cases, this experience can be invaluable. It is a win-win situation for everyone,” Levanon continued.
Dr. Efrat Harlev, Director of the Beilinson Campus of the Rabin Medical Center spoke about how proud she is to have the program at her hospital. “I am proud to have the ability to join the United Hatzalah volunteers join our E.R. I believe that we will all gain a lot from their personal and professional abilities, and their willingness to help our medical center. We know that this relationship can lead to even more professional knowledge of the volunteers on one hand, and on the other hand, help us with a great many needs at the hospital.”
Levanon added: “I want to thank Dr. Efrat Harlev the Director of Beilinson Campus of the Rabin Medical Center, Professor Michael Dersher who runs the E. R. and Kochava Bar-El who runs the volunteer department for the medical center, for all of their assistance in setting this program up in their E.R. I know that it will be mutually beneficial for everyone involved.”
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(Photo – Emergency room volunteer orientation for United Hatzalah volunteers at Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital)
Media contact: Raphael Poch, International Media Spokesperson, United Hatzalah, Jerusalem Cell: +972-52-689-7624; e-mail: raphaelp@israelrescue.org; To Donate: https://israelrescue.org/donate