Just after midnight on Wednesday morning, United Hatzalah volunteer EMTs Reuven and Chana Kushilevich spent their evening on their weekly date-night call buffing medical emergencies in their hometown of Kiryat Motzkin. They had just finished responding to their fifth medical emergency when the couple agreed to call it a night and head home to sleep. 

As they were turning the corner to head home, United Hatzalah’s Dispatch and Command Center alerted them to a woman in her 20’s who had collapsed on Michael Khazani Street. With a knowing look, Reuven and his wife turned to each other and silently agreed to go on one last ride for the evening. It was a decision that resulted in a life being saved.

 

The couple, whose four children were at home with the oldest babysitting for the younger ones, turned around once again and headed to the address. They arrived together with a local ambulance team and rushed inside where they found a young woman who suffers from muscular dystrophy, collapsed and unconscious, without a pulse and not breathing. 

 

Upon finding their unconscious daughter, her worried parents had called for emergency services to help. Reuven and Chana got to work in tandem with the ambulance team. A defibrillator was attached and Reuven and Chana alternated performing compressions and providing assisted ventilation. Three additional United Hatzalah volunteers arrived to assist and the team worked together seamlessly. 

 

12 minutes later a mobile intensive care unit arrived, and after quickly assessing the patient, the paramedic had the team stop CPR as he detected that the woman’s pulse had returned. 

 

“Whenever I go out with my wife, something dramatic always happens. The past few times, we responded to some major car accidents, and a few weeks ago my wife assisted in delivering a baby while I was in the next room calming down the husband. Responding to emergencies together is never dull, and I love doing it. It is kind of our couple’s therapy. In this incident, we were even lucky enough to assist in saving this young woman’s life. It brings us a tremendous feeling of joy knowing that we are helping another person, and this brings us closer together. Now that our children are old enough to take care of themselves, we are free to do this together and we are enjoying every minute of it.” 

 

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