Early Sunday morning, at 2:30 a.m., three United Hatzalah volunteers were finishing an ambulance shift. The driver, Niv Bohbot had just dropped his fellow EMTs Lior Tzubari and Elad Mimran off at their homes in Moshav Kadima when Niv received a phone call from a friend of his who is also an EMT. The friend explained that he was at a medical emergency, performing CPR with his mobile intensive care ambulance and staff, and was in desperate need of backup.
Niv quickly called over to Lior and Elad and the three rushed over to the given location. Upon arrival, the three found a 49-year-old man, who looked to be around 150 kilos, unconscious on the floor. A paramedic, a driver, and the friend were already performing CPR. As the three United Hatzalah volunteers arrived, the mobile intensive care team expressed great relief.
As the volunteers from United Hatzalah rushed in to assist and took over compressions from the exhausted ICU team the six medical personnel began working in synchronization and carried on performing CPR on the 49-year-old for ten minutes, switching between rounds of chest compressions, assisted ventilation, and medicines administered by the paramedic. A defibrillator was attached but it did not advise a shock, and so the volunteers continued with compressions and ventilation in a desperate attempt to save the man’s life.
At around 2:45 a.m., the team was successful in bringing back the man’s pulse and stabilizing his condition. After making sure the man was stable, the six volunteers had a new task at hand. The team had to carry the heavy man down three flights of stairs, in a narrow staircase and hallway before they could get him to the ambulance that was waiting outside.
It took some time but the team eventually transferred the man safely and he was soon on his way to the nearest hospital for further care. When everything was over and the living room was cleaned up from all the medical supplies, Niv drove Lior and Elad home, finally ending their ambulance shift after an eventful evening.
“I can’t help but think of how my friend called me on his phone directly, and how it changed the course of the night,” said Niv. “I was just dropping Lior and Elad off at their homes. If the mobile intensive care team were to call dispatch, they would have to then reach me, and I would have to go back and pick them back up, a process that could delay our arrival, and possibly affect the outcome of the CPR. The three couldn’t do the full CPR alone, they needed our help, and all because of that phone call, we were able to save his life. It was a great way to end a shift and start the week.”
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