Early Sunday morning, just before 4:00 AM, a man in his late 60s was not feeling well at an apartment on Abulafya Street near Nachalot in Jerusalem. He was making gurgling sounds and his wife and daughters woke up and rushed to his side, only to find that the man had lost consciousness and was no longer breathing. They immediately called emergency services for help.
Yosef Black, together with Zeev Klein, Yosef Cohen, and Yisrael Manas, were finishing an ambulance shift and driving by the Central Bus Station in Jerusalem to return the ambulance to headquarters when they received the alert from dispatch about the unconscious man. Black, who was driving the ambulance, quickly responded that the team was en route, flipped on the siren and sped to the address. They arrived in less than two minutes to foid the man still not breathing and without a pulse.
“I instructed one of the volunteers to attach a defibrillator as we began compressions,” Black recalled. “Within less than a minute of our arrival, the man received his first shock. We administered compressions and provided assisted ventilation for three or four minutes after that, before the man’s pulse came back and he began to breathe again.”
“Other volunteers arrived as did another ambulance team and we worked together to stabilize the man’s condition. A mobile intensive care ambulance arrived a few minutes later and transported the patient to the hospital for further treatment and care,” Black added.
Black said, “The whole CPR took just a few minutes, and I’m very glad that we were nearby and able to respond so quickly. The man’s family, who only spoke English, were hysterical. I told one of the volunteers whom I knew spoke English to talk to them and help calm them down. When the man’s pulse returned, I made sure that the family was aware of it and it helped them calm down a bit. The whole ordeal was emotional for me as well. This is only the fourth shift I was running in the area and to be able to respond that quickly and save a person’s life is exactly why we do what we do. Everything worked well today, and I feel blessed to have been a part of helping save this man’s life, and help prevent a tragedy for this family.”
