Last week, United Hatzalah volunteer Shraga was alerted to somebody having chest pain on a nearby moshav. He immediately stopped what he was doing, jumped on his ambucycle, and headed to the address. The moshav was closed by an electric gate and it would take around 10 minutes to call through to the moshav and have it opened, but with the ambucycle, he easily slipped through the pedestrian gate at the side and continued speeding to the rescue.

First at the address, the active United Hatzalah volunteer quickly recognized the man; he had treated him some months before for heart problems. Now, he saw that the man had all the symptoms of a heart attack and he quickly administered oxygen and aspirin in an attempt to prevent complete cardiac arrest. 20 minutes later the ambulance arrived and an EKG revealed that the man was indeed having a heart attack. He was rushed to hospital for emergency bypass surgery.

Quick and innovative thinking to overcome barriers saves lives. This 50 year-old man survived a serious heart attack thanks to his quick thinking and medical interventions.