Dor Vaknin, Senior EMT, deputy to the manager of the medicycle fleet, Moshav Ya’ara, Asher region, dealt with a suicide drone, anti-tank rockets and missiles, and all this in just one shift… On the challenges up north he tells:

“My family is evacuated to many parts of the country, some in Zikhron Ya’akov, some in Jerusalem.

“My partner Hadar Shayer, who is an MDA paramedic, and I, staff the MICU from our home regularly, giving rapid immediate response to a wide variety of calls in the area, even when there are soldiers involved, or anti-tank fire. 

“I am a member of the security response team in Moshav Ya’ara, which is only 1.4 kilometers away from the border, and I take care of the family farm. Since the farm is crucial for our family’s financial survival, I take care of it and friends from MDA have even helped collect eggs and helped with the overall activity in the farm.

“Two days after the war began Hadar and I were sent to casualties who were on their way to us in an army vehicle at Adamit Junction. We arrived there and cared for a soldier with gunshot wounds to his upper limbs. We provided life-saving treatment including stopping the bleeding and pain relief and evacuated him to Naharia hospital.

“In the beginning of the evacuation, the IDF force spotted a drone above our heads. Hadar and I hid on the side of the road while I protected her and the victim was protected inside the ambulance. The IDF forces neutralized the drone next to us, just a few meters away. It was imminent danger for us, our patient and the IDF forces. A precise drone on an elimination mission.

“Another event that emphasizes how dangerous it is here happened two months ago. I received a call on the MDA app for an anti-tank rocket shot into a house in Moshav Shtula. On my way to the location, at the entrance to Even Menachem, mortar shells started falling around me. The dispatch was on the phone-line with me telling me to go into the nearest bomb shelter. All MDA teams stopped and waited at the nearby town and I was the only one close to the strike scene…

“As soon as the shooting calmed down I returned to the ambulance and entered the town right on the security fence. I managed to pull a civilian out of there who was critically injured and drove with him between the bombings and rockets until we reached an IDF team. Unfortunately his injuries we too severe and he was declared dead in the field.

“The events don’t end and the danger hovers overhead every day, all the time. Around a month ago, when I returned from a shift, I drove by the town of Shlomi and saw a mushroom cloud. I reported back to MDA dispatch and they asked me to scan the area. When I arrived at the location I understood that it was a forest fire and I updated the dispatch that everything is okay. When I started heading out of there I suddenly heard the whistle of a rocket and managed to run and lie down right next to a wall, an anti-tank rocket struck 40 meters from the ambulance… I was saved by a miracle.

“What keeps me going is my ability to be available for my community at all times, because this is what they need from me now. My goal in life is to save lives, that’s what we’re here for. I’m happy to be part of MDA and even though this period is challenging and full of dangers, I plan on continuing with my activity and fighting to save lives.”