Three Shocks Before Seven O’clock

I was supposed to be teaching a refresher training course for United Hatzalah volunteers. Just another routine training for our medics to ensure that they have the necessary muscle memory to respond to emergency calls. Readiness, protocol, and teamwork.

Instead of standing in front of a classroom, I found myself standing over a woman fighting for her life outside the Wohl Event Hall near Bar Ilan University.

The call came in, a 52 year old woman suffering from chest pain. Our volunteers responded immediately. We arrived as she collapsed.

In that moment everything kicked into action.

Shimmy Koplovitz was first on scene with his ambucycle and AED. Together with Yishai Cohen and the additional responders arriving seconds later, they immediately began lifesaving treatment. The AED was attached and quickly advised a shock.

Then another.

Then a third.

When I arrived together with our ambulance team, paramedics, and physician, the scene was already moving with the focused intensity that only cardiac arrest calls create. There is no wasted movement during moments like these. Everyone knows their role instinctively.

Bentzi Eizenman, Yaron Shif, Dr. Josh Wesfield, and the rest of the team worked seamlessly together as we continued advanced resuscitation efforts.

You do not think about the crowd gathering nearby. You do not think about the course you’re supposed to be teaching. Your entire world narrows to the missing pulse and the desperate determination to bring it back.

Suddenly, inside the mobile intensive care ambulance, while preparing for transport, she began regaining consciousness.

Slow at first. But any movement is an improvement.

Those moments are difficult to describe to anyone who has never experienced them. After minutes of compressions, shocks, and medications, suddenly seeing life return to someone’s face feels almost surreal.

A sense of relief flooded the ambulance. But nobody celebrates yet. There is still a lot to do.

After the call was over I made my way, together with another volunteer who also responded to the call, to the training course. Thankfully our students waited patiently for the emergency to end.

Honestly, I cannot think of a better way to introduce the lesson we were about to teach anyway, because its calls like this one outside of Bar Ilan that we are all training for.