On Sunday afternoon, the town of Adam, otherwise known as Geva Binyamin, held a community day for all residents in the town and surrounding area. United Hatzalah volunteer EMT Meir Mescriz arrived in an ambulance with his United Hatzalah vest to help raise awareness of the emergency organization’s activities in the region. That afternoon, Meir got a chance to reunite with a young boy whose life he saved two years ago.
In 2019, Meir was in a local shop when his communications device alerted him to a child who had sustained severe third-degree burns on his face and upper body. The EMT quickly dropped what he was doing and rushed over to the given address in his car, arriving in under a minute.
Meir entered the home and located the 3-year-old boy sitting in the kitchen sink under a running faucet, with severe burns all over his face and body.
“I remember entering and seeing the boy in the sink, he must have had severe burns on approximately 80% of his body,” said Meir. “Somehow under all the burned tissue, I was able to recognize the young boy, he was in a kindergarten class with my daughter. I knew I had to act quickly to stop the burning process in the body that may cause irreversible damage.”
Meir asked the mother in the room if there was a bathtub in the home. She pointed to the second floor and holding him gently, Meir rushed up the stairs with the toddler. He placed the child in the bath with room temperature water to cool the skin without causing further damage.
As Meir treated the child, the worried mother explained how she was cooking hot oil in a pan when it was tipped over and fell over her son, coating his face, neck, arms, and abdomen in severe burns. Meir watched over the child in the bathtub for close to ten minutes, when an ambulance arrived at the scene.
With Meir’s help and briefing, the ambulance team bandaged any severe open wounds and prepped the boy for transport to the nearest hospital. At the hospital, the emergency dermatologist explained to the boy’s mother that the burns were extremely severe, and if it weren’t for the quick intervention and treatment he received, the damage to the skin would have been irreversible, leaving the boy’s face scarred and deformed.
On Sunday, standing before Meir once again was the now 5-year-old boy with not one scar on his face. The child had undergone multiple surgeries, leaving only one minimal scar to his abdomen. The mother and her child took the opportunity to thank Meir once more for his quick intervention, and for saving the boy.
Meir added: “When I saw the boy at the fair, with barely a scar on his face, I was reminded of the miracle that had occurred and it was truly heartwarming. I kept thinking of my own daughter, who is the same age as the boy I treated, and how things like this can happen to anyone. I urge the public to take United Hatzalah’s family safety course. Just four hours of this home safety and basic medical intervention course can prevent a future disaster.”