State of Iowa Launches Pilot Program With Israeli First Response Group
The American state of Iowa is funding health care organizations in four counties to adopt the methodology of Israel’s United Hatzalah first responders in a pilot program aimed at reducing emergency response time in rural areas of the state. In a written statement released on Wednesday, Gov. Kim Reynolds and Lt. Gov. Adam Gregg revealed the $150,000 grant from the Governor’s Empower Rural Iowa Initiative.
Reynolds and Gregg lauded Hatzalah, explaining that “the Israeli model uses technology to crowdsource nearby volunteer emergency responders and has driven response times down to an average of 90 seconds in cities like Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and to three minutes on average across the country.”
The pilot program will utilize the technology employed by United Hatzalah in Israel, training Iowa volunteers to respond rapidly to emergencies and stabilize the victim before an ambulance arrives—thereby reducing the vital, potentially lifesaving moments before treatment is initiated.
In Israel, United Hatzalah claims 6,500 volunteers and 1,200 “ambucycles”—motorbikes equipped with life-saving equipment—answering some 1,800 calls per day.
