Cooperation between Israeli army and Palestinian Red Crescent
In the past six months, Palestinian attackers have stabbed dozens of Israeli civilians and soldiers. While civilians have usually been attacked in the stomach, soldiers are stabbed either in arms and legs, or in the neck as the assailants know they are wearing bullet-proof vests.
So the Israeli army has developed a neck collar made of the same material as the bullet-proof vest, an invention that has cut down on fatal attacks of soldiers, Colonel Hagay Frenkel, the Chief Medical Officer of the Central Command, an area that includes the West Bank, and its 2.5 million Palestinians, told The Media Line in an exclusive interview. He said that soldiers don’t always like to wear it in 100 degree heat, but it has already saved lives.
The Central Command does not include east Jerusalem which Israel annexed in 1967 which is under the supervision of the Israeli police. It does however, include Hebron, which has been one of the flashpoints of the recent violence.
Frenkel said that since October 1, his medical teams have treated more than 450 people wounded in terror attacks, including 250 Israelis (both soldiers and civilians) and 200 Palestinians. He said “many” of the Palestinians, usually attackers, were killed, and 16 Israelis, four soldiers and twelve civilians died in the attacks.
Overall, 30 Israelis and four foreigners have been killed in the past six months, alongside more than 200 Palestinians, most of whom Israel says were involved in carrying out the attacks.
“We realized that we needed two systems to save more lives,” Frenkel said, speaking in his office on the northern outskirts of Jerusalem. “One is more training of our medical staff, and the other is better care of the wounded person, both physically and emotionally.”
To accomplish the first goal, 15 doctors and paramedics have embarked on an intensive training program, including at a medical simulation center at Sheba hospital. They will then train doctors and medics in the field. When it comes to the second goal, Frenkel said they are trying to encourage more resilience.
“One of the things we learned is that emotional health and resilience are very important,” Frenkel said. “When our fighters are resilient they recover from attacks more quickly.”
A pilot program has focused on physical fitness, better nutrition, and even biofeedback, which has proven itself, he said.
“The results of biofeedback are really amazing,” he said. “You need to do 7 – 10 sessions of 20-30 minutes. It’s too bad we can’t do it for everyone.”
Military service is compulsory in Israel, with men serving two years and eight months, and women, two years and four months. Many soldiers in combat units serve at least a year longer, and most men do reserve duty well into their 30s.
He said that all soldiers carry a tourniquet as part of their equipment and are trained to use it to stop heavy bleeding. Every battalion has a doctor and a paramedic, as well as an intensive care ambulance.
He said that Israeli soldiers treat Palestinians at the site, including the attackers, despite calls by some in Israel not to treat Palestinian assailants.
“It happened more than once what when our doctors finished taking care of the soldier and civilians who were wounded, they took care of the attackers,” Frenkel, who has spent most of his medical career in the army, said. “I’ve gotten to the trauma room at the hospital and in one bed was a wounded soldier and in the next bed was the (Palestinian) attacker. They were both brought to the hospital by our medical staff.”
He said there is significant cooperation between the Israeli soldiers and the Palestine Red Crescent, the Palestinian branch of the Red Cross, especially at the scene of car accidents. He said he recently received a request to help a young Palestinian boy in Nablus who had burns over 90 percent of his body. The boy had been taken to a local Palestinian hospital but the doctors there feared he would die. He was taken to an Israeli hospital where they saved his life.