Wartime volunteer midwife program, initiated in north, expands across the country

An initiative that dispatches local midwives to assist with out-of-hospital births across Israel is set to expand, the Magen David Adom (MDA) ambulance service and the Israel Midwives Organization announced Thursday.

The project, known as First Contractions, began during the war in the north and will expand throughout the country in nonwar times as well.

First Contractions was launched in July 2024 as the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah was firing rockets from Lebanon into northern Israel in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas amid the war in Gaza. That war began on October 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists invaded Israel, killing 1,200 people and kidnapping 251 people, mostly civilians, into Gaza.

During the war in the north, volunteer midwives were matched up with expectant mothers in their area in case they could not reach a medical center in time for delivery.

MDA and the Israel Midwives Organization have now expanded the program from an initial cohort of 60 midwives – among them, Jews, Arabs and Druze – to include over 200 professional midwives around the country.

In 2024, MDA teams helped 1,156 women give birth in their homes or en route to the hospital.

A volunteer in the First Contractions project, right, with Magen David Adom staff, in an undated photo. (Courtesy/Magen David Adom)

“It’s important that midwives are available not only during emergencies but during holidays, for example, when women might not make it to the hospital,” said Gilat Dolev, 50, a midwife from Kfar Tavor in the lower Galilee, who is a volunteer in the project. She is now ready to be dispatched to help in emergency births in her area.

Midwives “are the best” at delivering babies, said Dolev, but “sometimes births can get complicated.”

The midwives will receive field training to operate MDA equipment, including the use of the MDA dispatch system to field emergency calls for women in labor.

MDA and the Israel Midwives Organization also equip midwives with full birth kits which include portable ultrasound dopplers, oxygen tanks, and full resuscitation gear for both the mother and newborn along with advanced medical equipment often needed during labor and delivery.

Volunteer midwives of First Contractions, a joint project of the Israel Midwives Organization and Magen David Adom, in an undated photo. (Courtesy/Magen David Adom)

Midwives volunteering around the country

First Contractions, which receives support from the Jewish Federations of North America, is now recruiting experienced midwives from hospitals across Israel to join as volunteers.

The program is focused on first expanding to Jerusalem and the Tel Aviv metropolis, the districts with the highest birth rates in the country.

“Local midwives, who can provide care for out-of-hospital births in their communities, are often the most capable and quickest to respond to these situations,” said project manager Yossi Halabi, head of MDA’s first response division. “This initiative will continue to play a crucial role within the broader MDA and Israeli healthcare systems.”