Magen David Adom’s Wish Ambulance, a special MDA initiative that allows patients who are seriously and terminally ill or who are mobility-challenged fulfill their dreams, was able to realize the wish of a patient who has suffered greatly due to the events of October 7.
Eighty-year-old Yosef Atzili was a long-time resident of Kibbutz Nir Oz, the site of one of the worst massacres by Hamas terrorists on October 7. His son Aviv fought the infiltrators along with the kibbutz squad and was murdered. Aviv’s wife, Liat, was held hostage in Gaza and only returned after many months in captivity. Since October, Atzili has been receiving treatment at a medical center in central Israel.
The MDA Wish Ambulance, appropriately equipped and staffed for the mission, transported Atzili to the kibbutz, which he had not visited since his son’s funeral. During the tour, under the care of paramedic Yonat Daskal Dagan and EMT Netanel Engel, Atzili visited a memorial to his son and other victims. The MDA team then brought Atzili to the kibbutz’s car repair garage, which he had managed for 20 years before passing it on to his late son. Members of the kibbutz greeted their former co-habitant warmly throughout his visit. Atzili’s last stop at Nir Oz was to the kibbutz pool where family and friends surprised him with a toast in honor of his 80th birthday.
“It was so exciting for us and, of course, for Aba,” said Yosef’s son, Yiftach. “It was a full-circle day for him. You accompanied him to very important and meaningful places for him.”
MDA’s Wish Ambulance initiative is a free service available to all who may need it. The ambulance is fully equipped with medical equipment, a wheelchair, a refrigerator for medications, resuscitation equipment, a special bed, and even a camera installed on the ambulance’s roof to allow the patient to watch the route on a screen. The fulfillment of each wish is carefully planned in coordination with the patient’s doctor.
“I have already fulfilled many wishes as part of the Wish Ambulance project, but this time it is about something that concerns us all, the war,” said Daskal Dagan, the MDA paramedic who accompanied Atzili. “I am happy to have the privilege of helping fulfill Yosef’s wish, which is of enormous importance for his strong and amazing family.”
