Bystanders can improve the outcome in emergencies by activating the “chain of survival.” Gaza’s (Palestine) population has little, if any, access to training in Basic Life Support (BLS) and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). The goal was to recruit local medical students to be life-saving first aid instructors, and have them train 3,000 laypeople in BLS and CPR.

One hundred and seventeen medical students from Al Azhar University-Gaza (Gaza City, Palestine) were trained as BLS and CPR instructors. Twelve training hours were delivered in practical BLS and CPR skills, plus four in communication and didactical skills, to enable training of laypeople. Students answered a questionnaire exploring demographics, prior training experience, expectations, and motivation to join the training. Teaching material were developed after the European Resuscitation Council (ERC; Niel, Belgium) guidelines and similar training at The Arctic University of Norway (Tromsø, Norway).

A total of 117 medical students (52.1% female; 47.9% male), from third through sixth year, completed training, and all were in their early twenties. Ninety-five (81.2%) agreed to answer the questionnaire. Of those, five students lost family members during Israeli military operations. Eighty-two (70.1%) never had hands-on first aid training. Seventy-six (80.0%) hoped the training would improve their community’s response to emergencies. With 58 training sessions completed, 1,312 laypeople (596 males; 716 females) were trained: 5.52 lay trainees per student instructor. The majority (n = 1,012; 77.1%) were school students aged 13–20 years.

It is feasible to recruit local medical students for practical BLS and CPR trainings targeting laypeople in communities under stress. The training impact on local resilience and patients’ outcomes need further studies.

Post-injury hypothermia is a risk predictor in trauma patients whose physiology is deranged. The aim of the present study was to examine the effect of simple, in-field, hypothermia prevention to victims of penetrating trauma during long prehospital evacuations.

A total of 170 consecutively injured landmine victims were included in a prospective, clinical study in Northern Iraq and Cambodia. Thirty patients were provided with systematic prehospital hypothermia prevention, and for 140 patients, no preventive measures were provided.

The mean value for the time from injury to hospital admission was 6.6 hours (range: 0.2–72). The incidence of hypothermia (oral temperature <36°C) before prevention/rewarming was 21% (95% confidence interval: 15% to 28%). The Prevention Group had a statistically significant lower rate of hypothermia on hospital admission compared to the control group (95% confidence interval for difference: 6% to 24%).

Simple, preventive, in-field measures help to prevent hypothermia during protracted evacuation, and should be part of the trauma care protocol in rural rescue systems.