South Floridians train for volunteer duty in Israel
Numerous South Floridians arenowtrainedandcertified emergency responders who can volunteer in Israelwhena crisis breaks out there.
Approximately 60 people attended the Emergency Volunteers Project’s recent training sessions at the Plantation Fire Department Administration Building and the Coral Springs Regional Institute of Public Safety. EVP is an Israeli organization that assembles a team of able-bodied volunteers who are trained to provide non-military support in Israel in the event of a crisis there.
TheVolunteerswere certified by the State of Israel, Federal Emergency Management Agency and EVP to become local and international responders through initial training and orientation meetings. They will serve in Israel for 10 days, if needed, during the next war or other crisis. These volunteers would include: doctors, firefighters, nurses and paramedics, and community volunteers who would serve in the municipality emergency depots, deliver water and food to shelters and provide various support services in towns drained by call ups of military reserve personnel.
EVP has also partnered with the Jewish Federation of Broward County and the city ofNesher to assemble a team of local volunteers that would serve in Israel if neededonbehalf of theFederation.
“Jewish Federation of Broward County’s support of EVP is an expression of our unwavering commitment to the people and the State of Israel,” said Michael Balaban, the Federation’s president and chief executive officer, in an email statement. “We are united with Israel in moments of calm and crisis. Combining our financial and volunteer support, our community is proud to be a part of this project.”
Brian Strelitz, EVP’s East Region manager, said that the volunteers’ passion, dedication and commitment during the training sessions enabled them to be able to go to Israel to do “an incredible service at the time of a crisis.”
Strelitz mentioned that the volunteers worked on hose drills with Israeli equipment and firefighters so they would understand not only how to work with it, but also the differences between the Israeli and American equipment.
Billy Hirth, EVP’s director of operations/fire teams whowas one of the trainers, said the training focused on getting the volunteers to mainly adapt to the Israeli way of doing business and also the differences and mindset between the Israeli and Americanway.
“They [Israelis] have a very Eastern mindset and we [Americans] have a very Western mindset so a lot of the training was to get people to start thinking with an Eastern mindset,” Hirth noted. “Laterdownthe road the volunteers will be going to continuing education classes where they will meet and talk on different subjects and train on different things.”
Hirth thought the volunteer trainees were “really enthusiastic” and feels they are prepared to go to Israel should a crisis arise there.
Sterlitz echoed Hirth’s sentiments as he is 100 percent confident that the volunteers are prepared.
“We’vedoneit beforeand it works,” Sterlitz said. “We did it in 2014 with the Gaza incursion [during Operation Protective Edge] and we did it with the fires this past November up in the northern part of the country.”
Local volunteers who attended the training commented Melanie Kaleky of Tamarac called it one of the most intense two-day trainings she’s ever attended because the trainers, both American and Israeli, were so passionate about what they were doing.
“Therewere Israeli trainers that came all the way to Coral Springs to talk to us on their experiences. on what Israel needs,” she said. “The fact thatwewere at the training facility combined with the fact that there were Israeli trainers there plus American trainers, made it a magnificent experience.”
Gary Opper of Weston said about the training, “It’ll obviously be helpful when you’re here doing something with FEMA or if you’re over there doing something withEVP, but it’s also good if you’re just in your own personal life or if you happen to see an accident. The training allows you the opportunity to become more helpful.”
Call 305-949-4947 email evpflorida@gmail.com for more information on EVP, including future trainings. or