20/10/2023
This is the story of 500 students from Ben-Gurion University, told by Eyal Pasternak, a sixth-year student at the medical school.
"Already on Saturday, when the sirens started, students from the Faculty of Health Sciences - from medicine, nursing, emergency medicine and more – with no coordination, simply left their houses and went to the Soroka hospital ER to see how they could help. They integrated into the hospital's medical teams and took part in saving the lives of casualties, and even participated in emergency surgeries.
The volunteers also helped guide and organize the families who were looking for their loved ones. At night, they worked together with the army, government and hospital staff to identify the unidentified wounded and locate their families.
We also helped transport casualties in moderate condition to hospitals in other parts of the country and when needed, we moved the beds ourselves.
We helped treat hundreds of wounded; we performed actions that helped save lives. The sights and smells will never leave us, but precisely because of this, we will be better practitioners. We’ve had our baptism of fire and survived; the people of Israel will get through this too."
אסר"ן
