Bezeq Israel Telecom, Israel’s biggest telecommunications company announced last week that it is collaborating with Magen David Adom in an initiative to convert thousands of public phone booths into defibrillator stations.

In case of an emergency requiring a defibrillator (to restore a patient’s normal heart rate  though an electric shock in the case of cardiac arrest), Israelis would call emergency services which would direct them to the nearest defibrillator while an ambulance is en route.

Defibrillators will be locked and will only be able to be accessed with a code, which will be provided over the phone by emergency services.

“The concept of repurposing phone booths exists elsewhere in the world,” the MDA project leader of the MDA-Bezeq Israel Telecom collaboration told NoCamels. “There are also a few cities that have changed public phone booths into homes for public access defibrillators as we’re doing. But no one has done so on a national level. We’ve taken the idea up a level and thanks to Israel’s compact size and leading technology capabilities, this lifesaving project will stretch across the country, from Dan to Eilat, and be connected to the national emergency services, Magen David Adom (MDA).”

About 11 phone booths have already been converted in a pilot program and “so far, it has proven itself,” the MDA project leader said.

“The earlier an electric shock is given to someone in cardiac arrest, the better chances of survival,” MDA said. “Bystanders have the potential to save a life. The first few minutes are critical. Any passerby can call emergency services and then use the defibrillator, even without any medical knowledge until emergency services arrive.”

“Public telephones have been a part of us but naturally with the advancement of technology they have become redundant, and we are happy they will be renewed,” Bezeq, which is donating the use of the rarely used phones, said in a statement.

Israel had attempted  to install defibrillator stations in the past but the initiative failed, according to the NoCamels report. In August 2017, Ganei Yehoshua Park, Tel Aviv’s largest park which is visited by about 16 million people annually, installed six defibrillator stations. The special cabinets for the defibrillators were all stolen within weeks and were never replaced.

However, according to the MDA project leader, the new yellow medical device container is “vandalism-proof” and also has temperature-controlling sensors to keep the device from overheating.

“Any citizen can easily operate The Magen David Adom Defibrillator without prior medical knowledge,” MDA Deputy Director-General, Dr. Rafael Strugo, said in a press statement. “The device provides an electric current as needed, dictates the rate of resuscitation, and provides clear voice and visual operating instructions, in Hebrew and in other languages.

“Additionally, the device connects to the MDA Emergency Dispatch Center, and the citizen receives additional instructions from medics and paramedics at 101 Dispatch Center. At the same time, MDA teams receive details of the patient, and are on their way to the scene of the incident.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)