“101” The Number That Answers When Israel Can’t Breathe”
BY Mabel Kabba
In a moment they’re collecting blood at a high school in Haifa. The next, they’re pulling survivors from a rocket strike in the south. Magen David Adom in Israel doesn’t get to choose the day. The day chooses them.
This is how it works in Israel. When you call for help, the person who shows up might be a doctor, a university student or a high schooler in the community. Magen David Adom — MDA — is Israel’s ambulance service, blood bank, and national emergency backbone.
More than Sirens
MDA’s unique role in Israel dates way back in History from 1930, with the Red Star of David,
operated during the British Mandate, as a volunteer group with stretchers and bicycles.
Today it runs about a 130 stations, 800+ ambulances, motorcycles, helicopters, and the country’s only national blood service.
The Number 101
When emergencies occur and 101 is dialed, it reaches the notification of one of 4 dispatch centers. Within seconds, the closest unit is on the road.
Narrating the functions of MDA to a team of Senior Journalists and Editors from Sierra Leone, Ghana and Liberia,Chaim Rafalowski, Coordinator International Cooperation at Magen David Adom said if an emergency is in Tel Aviv it takes 8 minutes for their response. And if in the Negev it might be longer. But it always comes.
According to him, the red Star of David on the side of the ambulance is not just a logo as its on billboards, t-shirts, the keychains kids carry and everywhere.
Every year MDA answers 1.5 million emergency calls and collects 350,000 blood units from drives in schools, army bases, and office buildings. It trains 100,000 people in CPR. “We are in every part of life,” Chaim Rafalowski said.
Throughout our stay in Israel, one thing I learned is that Israelis don not memorize many numbers. But everyone knows 101 and it’s on the back of every phone, even taught in kindergarten.
When a call is recorded, the voice at the other end is calm. “MDA. What’s you’re your emergency?”. That’s the job.
The Volunteers
Of its 22,000 staff and respond enders, about 18.000 are volunteers. Some are surgeons who finish a shift at the hospital and go straight to an ambulance. Others are 15-year-olds who spend Sunday’s learning trauma care instead of going to the mall or recreational facilities.
As Israels ambulance service blood bank and national emergency backbone, donating blood is a culture that runs deep and it’s normal like as voting. Almost every family has a story: someone saved by MDA blood, the neighbor who’s a volunteer dispatcher, or the cousin who rides the ambulance.
When asked why the Israelis prioritize the MDA, the response was loud and clear “one day it might be my family calling 101”.
The ambulance pulls out. The red Star of David catches the early light. And Israel keeps
