In Israel, August is a month that not only tests parental endurance, it is also when parents learn to juggle work and childcare at the same time.

School is out. There are few real camps left to speak of. And with temperatures soaring during the middle of the day, the question of what to do with the kids keeps parents constantly searching for creative and cheap activities that can somehow appeal to every age.

The reality is so comical that one Israeli comedian once joked that she considered dropping her young children off at a police station, figuring that at least there they would be safe and have access to good snacks.

For sisters Penina and Libby Beer, both United Hatzalah EMTs, that option was off the table. Instead, they piled their three children into one car and headed out for the day.

“We had reached that point in August when it was already very, very difficult to stay home with the kids,” Penina recalled.

Then, in the middle of the drive, directly in front of them, a car collided with a bus, sending the smaller vehicle into a dirt ditch.

The two mothers did what they have done countless times before. In zero seconds flat, they went from mothers trying to entertain their children to first responders.

Libby donned her orange vest and jumped out of the car to help. Another United Hatzalah volunteer who had also witnessed the crash joined the response. Penina stayed with the children, but remained ready to spring into action if additional medical assistance was needed.

There was no need for someone to call United Hatzalah’s National Dispatch Center and wait for an operator to locate the nearest medic. No one had to race across town. The medics were already there.

Thankfully, no one was seriously injured, and Penina, Libby and the children were soon able to continue their outing.

But for United Hatzalah volunteers, moments like these are part of everyday life. Emergencies happen in their neighborhoods, around the corner or across the street. They happen while driving to work, shopping for groceries or spending the day with their children. When they do, United Hatzalah volunteers drop whatever they are doing, put on their orange vests and respond.

Penina and Libby are certainly no strangers to that lifestyle. Their parents and siblings are also first responders. When your father is Eli Beer, the founder and president of United Hatzalah, answering the call to help others is quite literally a family tradition and an ordinary August outing became a lifesaving opportunity all in zero seconds flat.