On Monday evening, a 10-month-old baby girl experienced a severe allergic reaction in Jerusalem. Her parents immediately alerted emergency services.

The Yom Kippur fast had just ended and United Hatzalah volunteer EMT Tzvi Kaplan was building his sukkah with his children when he received the alert from the dispatch center. After apologizing to his children, he hopped in his car and drove to the scene. 

When Tzvi arrived at the scene a few minutes later, he met the baby and her parents in the street. The baby was lethargic. The parents explained that she was allergic to milk and she had just thrown up at home, although they were unaware of any recent milk exposure. The volunteer used a flashlight in order to assess the patient and found that the infant had an extensive rash covering her face, neck, and chest. In addition, there was swelling around her neck which was threatening her airway. 

Another EMT was on the scene and after consulting with the dispatch center, the pair of first responders decided to inject the EpiPen owned by the parents. Tzi exposed the thigh and held the baby, while the other EMT pricked the child with the auto-injector. 

The baby began to cry and she was returned to her mother to calm down while her condition slowly improved. An ambulance later arrived at the scene and transported the infant to the hospital for further treatment.  Tzvi later reflected on the incident and said: “Within a matter of minutes after the parents called emergency services, the child had been saved, thank God. It’s a very rewarding feeling.”

To equip United Hatzalah volunteers with more EpiPen, please click here.