On Wednesday just before noon in Tiberias, a man in his 90s suffered cardiac arrest while sitting on the couch in his house. His relatives immediately alerted emergency services. 

United Hatzalah volunteer EMT Aryeh Levinger was working nearby at the bike store he owns when he received an alert on his communications device about the incident. He asked an employee from the neighboring store to keep an eye on the bikes and rushed to the scene on his ambucycle, with lights and sirens blaring. 

Levinger pulled up to the address in under 90 seconds, arriving together with volunteer EMT Yekutiel Parhi. The pair rushed to the second floor, where they found the man slumped on the couch, without a pulse and not breathing. Family members informed the responders that the patient had been speaking to them just minutes earlier and had suddenly lost consciousness. 

The EMTs gently moved the man to the floor, initiated CPR, and attached a defibrillator. Moments later, an intensive care ambulance crew arrived at the scene. The paramedic administered medications while the team continued performing chest compressions and assisted ventilation. Thankfully, after 25 minutes of hard work, the patient suddenly regained a pulse. He was transported to the hospital for further treatment.

“It’s a privilege to arrive first at the scene of a case of cardiac arrest and be able to take part in a successful resuscitation,” Parhi reflected after the incident. “I’m extremely moved and I pray that he will fully recover.”

“It’s not always easy to abandon my store in the middle of the day but when a life is at stake, I drop everything and think only about the patient,” added Levinger. “When the effort is successful, there is no more rewarding feeling.”