For most couples, date night means dinner, a movie or a quiet evening together. For Hodaya and Avi Feivelson, it often means responding to emergency calls in a Magen David Adom rapid response vehicle and helping people in need.
“After we drop our children off at their educational programs, we volunteer as a couple in a rapid response vehicle and go together to emergency calls to provide medical care to patients. This is our quality time, just like dates,” said the couple of Magen David Adom paramedic volunteers from Kiryat Ata.
Gallery
Magen David Adom paramedic volunteers Hodaya and Avi Feivelson respond to calls together and separately
(Photo: MDA spokesperson)
Their unusual last name often catches people’s attention when they arrive together at emergency scenes to treat injured people, patients and women in labor.
“Patients often notice that we are a married couple. Once, a woman who was about to give birth and whom we arrived to assist during delivery called afterward to thank us and said it was amazing that we volunteer together,” Hodaya said.
The couple’s journey with Magen David Adom began about three years ago, when Avi completed an emergency medical responder course and started volunteering. Hodaya, who had recently given birth at the time, waited until she recovered and then enrolled in the same course.
“My dream until today is to become a doctor. I always knew I wanted to work in medical care,” Hodaya said. “I know I will get there one day, but there is no doubt that, for me, Magen David Adom is also the fulfillment of a dream.”
'Our children also live Magen David Adom'
(Photo: MDA spokesperson)
Today, nearly nine years into their marriage, Hodaya and Avi each work independently, manage the household and raise their five children. They still make time to respond to emergency calls together and separately.
“We have a rapid response vehicle in our parking area so we can always be ready to leave at any hour and at any time for a patient who needs us,” Avi said.
He added that their children have also become connected to Magen David Adom’s work.
“Our children also live Magen David Adom,” he said. “We noticed that they play among themselves as if they are paramedics. They have walkie-talkies that they pretend are the MDA 101 emergency dispatch center that sends us out to calls, and even last Purim they all dressed up as paramedics.”