Experts offer tips on resilience from Israel to Los Angeles in AFMDA webinar.

Story by American Friends of Magen David Adom

Representatives from After the Fire USA and Magen David Adom offered lessons learned on the topic of resilience from Israel in the aftermath of the October 7 attacks, and from Los Angeles following the megafires from this past winter, in “The Road to Recovery: Building Resilience from Israel to LA,” an AFMDA-hosted webinar.

The panelists were Jennifer Gray Thompson, CEO and founder of After the Fire USA; Valerie Brown, California Wildfires Fellow at After the Fire USA; Dr. Moshe Abramowitz, psychiatrist, senior consultant for MDA, clinical senior lecturer in health systems management at Jerusalem Multidisciplinary College, and adjunct clinical senior lecturer in psychiatry at Hebrew University’s Hadassah Medical School; and Dr. Haim Knobler, clinical associate professor at Jerusalem Multidisciplinary College, chairman of MDA Israel Youth Association, and senior mental health consultant for MDA. Janet Morgan, AFMDA’s director of the western region, moderated, incorporating questions submitted by attendees ahead of time.

After the Fire helps communities which have been affected by megafires recover and rebuild. They work with local leaders to learn about the neighborhood, channel competency within it, and develop a plan to move forward. The organization has worked with groups impacted by megafires up and down the west coast.