Adir Nachmani is a volunteer EMT for United Hatzalah and works for the city of Be’er Sheva.
Close to 6 PM Saturday, when Adir was on an ambulance shift around the city, he received a call about a 60-year-old man suffering from a seizure on Yehudah HaLevi street. He rushed over and was surprised to see it was his friend from Yeshiva.
After an examination, Adir realized that the man’s seizures were caused by a drug overdose. He brought him into the ambulance, covered him with a blanket, and kept his condition steady until the mobile intensive care ambulance arrived a few minutes later. The man was taken to the hospital where he was treated and given the proper medications to counteract the overdose and was released later that night.
The very next day, Sunday afternoon, Adir was alerted to an emergency in which a man was lying unconscious on a public bench in the neighborhood. Adir was on his ambucycle, a 60-second drive to the location, and sped off straight-away only to find the old friend he had treated the night before, who was suffering from yet another drug overdose. Except that this time the man was also unconscious and without a pulse, having suffered a cardiac arrest.
“The moment I realized it was the same man as the night before, I felt so disappointed,” said Adir. “But even more than the feeling of disappointment, I felt pain and incredible sadness that the man could not even last a full day after being released from the hospital before having another overdose, causing a heart attack and seriously endangering his health.”
Adir lowered the man from the bench carefully onto the floor and immediately began treatment to resuscitate his friend. He performed CPR on the man until the mobile intensive care ambulance arrived a few minutes later.
The arriving paramedic helped Adir lay the patient onto a stretcher and transfer him into the ambulance, where they continued performing CPR until his pulse and breathing finally returned some ten minutes later. The man was admitted to the Soroka Medical Center for further care.
After the incident, Adir said, “This man was very lucky to have been saved twice within 24 hours, and I hope he recovers soon and lives out his renewed life to its fullest. I hope his condition improves and he succeeds in winning the battle against his addiction.”