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Dov Maisel on Israel’s MCIs, emergency response

United Hatzalah volunteer emergency response Director of Operations Dov Maisel speaks to EMS1 from Jerusalem about resiliency in the face of recent mass casualty responses and the ongoing response to rocket attacks

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United Hatzalah’s Dov Maisel takes cover: Maisel discusses safety and the emotional toll of the recent MCI events in Israel.

United Hatzalah Israel

In this EMS One-Stop With Rob Lawrence special edition, Rob speaks with Dov Maisel, director of Operations for United Hatzalah/Untied Rescue volunteer emergency response organizations.

Dov joins in from his operational headquarters in Jerusalem and he discusses the events in Israel that have caused all Hatzalah responders to respond to the absolute limits of their endurance.

In the past weeks, Israel and Hatzalah has dealt with two very severe and fatal major incidents – the crush incident at Mount Meron, with over 45 killed and 200 injured, and a synagogue collapse in the West Bank – as well as the ongoing response to rocket attacks.

During the podcast, Dov received many air raid warnings and describes the actions taken upon receiving an alert and the mere seconds an individual has to seek cover for a local warning.

Dov also specializes in a mass disaster, rescue and recovery training for both the civilian and military arenas. In addition to his many fields of expertise, he leads Israeli rescue missions to disaster-struck countries, such as Haiti and Nepal, and has been spearheading international expansion by helping cities all over the world develop community-based emergency response programs based on the model of United Hatzalah.

Watch: United Hatzalah volunteers take cover as incoming missiles encounter the Iron Dome air defense system (Video/United Hatzalah Israel)

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Rob Lawrence has been a leader in civilian and military EMS for over a quarter of a century. He is currently the director of strategic implementation for PRO EMS and its educational arm, Prodigy EMS, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and part-time executive director of the California Ambulance Association.

He previously served as the chief operating officer of the Richmond Ambulance Authority (Virginia), which won both state and national EMS Agency of the Year awards during his 10-year tenure. Additionally, he served as COO for Paramedics Plus in Alameda County, California.

Prior to emigrating to the U.S. in 2008, Rob served as the COO for the East of England Ambulance Service in Suffolk County, England, and as the executive director of operations and service development for the East Anglian Ambulance NHS Trust. Rob is a former Army officer and graduate of the UK’s Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and served worldwide in a 20-year military career encompassing many prehospital and evacuation leadership roles.

Rob is a board member of the Academy of International Mobile Healthcare Integration (AIMHI) as well as chair of the American Ambulance Association’s State Association Forum. He writes and podcasts for EMS1 and is a member of the EMS1 Editorial Advisory Board. Connect with him on Twitter.