Magen David Adom (MDA), Israel’s national paramedic organization and a leading member in the International Committee of the Red Cross, has flown four armored ambulances to Poland, which will be driven into Ukraine to evacuate the wounded from the most volatile areas.
“As a Red Cross affiliate, we’re working to help refugees and the wounded as much as possible, and this is how we will continue to act,” said director-general Eli Bin.
Russian- and Ukrainian-speaking paramedics are being sent to Moldova to staff a triage clinic, as well as assist injured and ill Ukrainians at the border. And as a result of an assessment mission to Poland, MDA will establish a field clinic there, once approved by the Polish government.
Felix Lotan was one of the paramedics sent to assess the refugee situation in Poland. “It’s heartbreaking,” he said. “Most of the refugees are women and children, and they have a deep sadness and fear of being left widows.”
Manager of MDA’s international disaster department, Lotan has seen a number of disasters, including earthquakes in Haiti and Nepal. “But nothing was like what I saw here.”
“The International Red Cross has asked us to assist the German Red Cross in evacuating patients from Odessa to Moldova,” said Uri Shacham, deputy director-general and chief of staff for MDA, who is also its liaison to the Red Cross movement. “Our paramedics are also part of Israel’s delegation to establish a field hospital in western Ukraine.”
