On Monday morning, Sarit Badani, a nurse midwife at Sheba Tel-HaShomer Medical Center and an active United Hatzalah volunteer, went for a short walk near her house in Moshav Achiezer, located in central Israel. Moments after returning to her house, she received an alert on her communications device regarding a man who had lost consciousness just four houses down the street. Badani immediately ran to her car, where she keeps her medical kit, and arrived at the scene in under 90 seconds. 

Finding the man sitting on a chair, Badani began checking for vitals and found that the patient was not breathing and had no pulse. She immediately reported back to dispatch, as United Hatzalah EMTs Yisrael Avraham and Nissim Daus, who arrived at the scene shortly after her, moved the man to the floor. The responders initiated CPR and attached a defibrillator. 

Badani and the team performed chest compressions and administered assisted ventilations to the patient. After a while, an intensive care ambulance crew arrived at the scene. The paramedic attached a heart monitor and administered medication to the patient. After about ten minutes of extreme effort, the man’s pulse was restored. He was then transported to the hospital for further care.

“As a nurse midwife, I am used to performing CPR on infants, but it’s rarer for me to do it on adults,” recounted Badani after the incident. “I came back home afterward and said to myself ‘Woah, I had the privilege to be first at the scene, shortly after the incident began, which is such a critical moment’. I later heard that the doctors told the patient that, if not for the quick intervention of first responders, he would have had brain damage at the very least. I still have goosebumps; thank you, God, for giving me the privilege of saving a life.”