Last Saturday night at 11, a man in his 40s was sitting in a chair at home on Hasneh Street in Ramat Gan when he lost his balance and fell backward striking his head on the floor. The man was bleeding from his head and lost consciousness. His frightened spouse immediately called emergency services for help.
EMT Mordechai Ben Ami, together with EMTs in training Ori Nissim and Yisrael Jibli, were on shift together and had just finished with another emergency when they received the alert from United Hatzalah’s Dispatch and Command Center regarding the unconscious man. Located a few streets away from HaSneh, they quickly turned their car around and drove to the address given.
At the same time, United Hatzalah volunteer EMT Shmuel Dahouki was at home making himself a late dinner just a few blocks away when he received the alert. Leaving his dinner on the counter, he ran downstairs to his ambucycle and sped to the location of the emergency.
The four volunteers arrived in prompt succession and Jibli raced up the stairs into the apartment. The man’s spouse brought the EMTs to the unconscious man who was lying face down on the floor in a widening pool of blood. After checking for a pulse and whether the man was responsive or not, and finding none, the team laid the man out straight on the floor and Jibli began chest compressions as Ben Ami attached a defibrillator.
“We initiated CPR just a few minutes after receiving the alert,” Jibli said. “Our response time was very quick and we worked together as a team.”
Ben Ami and Dahouki oversaw the CPR effort with the two trainees, Nissim and Jibli, making sure that everything was being done quickly and correctly. A few minutes after the United Hatzalah EMTs had initiated CPR, the defibrillator advised a shock. A few minutes after that the ambulance team arrived and joined the CPR effort in progress.
“The man received a total of four shocks from the defibrillator and the whole team alternated between administering compressions, providing assisted ventilation, opening an intravenous line, and the paramedic administered medication,” Jibli said. “It was a team effort and thanks to our quick intervention, after 40 minutes the man’s pulse returned and he slowly began breathing on his own once again.”
The man was transported via ambulance to the hospital in serious but stable condition. Jibli, who works as an emergency room volunteer in Sheba Hospital added, “Had we not been there, I don’t think he would have survived. This isn’t my first successful CPR, I performed one once on the Rabbi of my Shul many years ago, long before I was a trained EMT. I’ve always wanted to be a volunteer EMT, the whole idea of emergency medicine really speaks to me. That is why I work in the emergency room in Sheba Hospital and that is why I have chosen to volunteer with United Hatzalah. Being able to help people, like we did last night, means the world to me, and often to them.”