Michael Strongin, a Magen David Edom-certified Hatzalah paramedic in South Florida, was woken Thursday morning by his wife in Miami. Strongin had come home from the hospital the night before with his newborn son. just a short distance from his home, he was told, a
.
He left his family and arrived at the scene at Surfside.
“On the side of the building, I saw sofas, bunk beds, furniture – how people lived their lives,” he told The Jerusalem Post Sunday, recalling the first few minutes at the site of the devastation. Apartment building collapse.
Since then, Strongin, along with a team of MDA-certified paramedics who are part of an Israel-based Volunteer Emergency Medical Services organization, has been helping Miami-Dade Fire Rescue to heal victims of the disaster as well as provide grieving support. are. Family.
On Sunday, the death toll rose to nine as searchers worked to find more than 150 missing residents among the rubble of the destroyed building. The death toll was certain to rise as emergency workers at Surfside, a waterfront town near Miami, included teams from Israel and specialists from Mexico.
Another Hatzalah paramedic, one of its directors in South Florida, Baruch Sandhaus, was one of the first on the scene. He said Hatzala had received two emergency calls for help from people in the building.
“Once I arrived at the scene, we were able to assess and realize that it was much larger than the typical calls we are used to seeing here,” Sandhaus described. “We immediately set up a triage site, working closely with Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, as they were evacuating early victims from the collapse. After the first ten or fifteen people came out of the building, most of them were on foot. They went through our triage site, we assessed, checked and evaluated them.”
According to Sandhaus, about two hours later the Family Reunification Center was built at the Surfside Recreation Center. Hatzala helped treat over 60 patients for a number of medical issues. Hatzala doctors also helped deliver medicine on the site, as many of the building’s residents had lost all of their possessions, including their medicine.
At the Triage Center, Strongin also treated patients suffering from the mental effects of the tragedy.
“I’ve only seen it in Israel, ‘Nifga Harda’, which is a special type of terror attack. I ran a team of EMTs and paramedics during Operation Pillar of Defense in Nativot in 2012. It was during that time that I had seen one experience that ‘harda’ (anxiety) utterly debilitating condition that trembles with fear where one shuts down. I noticed that here, the worst among family members There is apprehension,” Strongin said.
Sandhaus explained that “with each hour that passed, we felt a growing concern with our members, as we hoped and prayed that there were still people alive in the building.”
Was in touch with Hatzala and MDA on Friday night e df Search and rescue specialists who prepared for the scene of the disaster. Strongin told the Post that the emergency delegation of the IDF’s Home Front Command that came to aid in the search on Sunday was “hopeful”.
“They are eager to go to work and are literally walking down the street to go to the pile. I look around and see the rescue workers who have been here for days, and when there is definitely some physical exhaustion. I don’t want to say they’re excited, but they know there’s still a mission here to do, and they know they’re here for the families and for the people who are still hopeful. Down alive,” Strongin’ said.
Migrant Affairs Minister Nachman Shai also arrived at the scene on Sunday and met with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Shai tweeted: “I drove straight from the airport to the disaster site at Surfside, where I met with Governor @RonDeSantisFL and rescue teams – local and global. I expressed my deep sorrow and message that the State of Israel is here to help in any way I can. #SurfsideBuildingCollapse.”