Friday morning just after 9:00 A.M, a woman in her 60s suffered a cardiac arrest in her home in Netanya, prompting her son to call for help. 

Rahamim Cohen, a United Hatzalah volunteer EMT, was driving to work when the organization’s Dispatch and Command center alerted him to a medical emergency taking place in a nearby neighborhood. Rahamim made a U-turn and raced to the incident, arriving at the scene just a few minutes later at the same time as an ambulance crew. Entering the living room, the group of first responders found the sexagenarian unconscious and after a quick vitals check, confirmed that the woman was pulseless and not breathing, and undergoing a cardiac arrest. 

Rahamim initiated CPR together with the ambulance crew, attaching an AED which initially did not recommend delivering a shock. The volunteer began performing compressions on the patient’s chest while the paramedic intubated her and opened an intravenous line. Moments later, United Hatzalah volunteer EMT Zeev Drimer, who had ridden his electric bike from a far distance when he received the emergency alert, arrived and joined the effort to resuscitate the woman. The pair of volunteers together with the ambulance team rotated between performing compressions and administering assisted ventilation while the paramedic administered adrenaline. When Yakir Nahami, a third United Hatzalah EMT arrived at the scene and took over performing chest compressions, Zeev, who is also a nursing student, became free and helped the paramedic with the preparation of other medications.

“A short time earlier, EMTs in the area had received an alert about another cardiac arrest and many were still busy responding to that emergency when the second call came in. Therefore Zeev and I decided to go out to this call even though we were both relatively far,” Yakir explained. 

The effort, which included administering one electric shock through the defibrillator, continued for half an hour when suddenly, the woman’s pulse was restored. The woman was then transported to Laniado Hospital for further treatment.

After the incident, Zeev shared his feelings and said: “When the CPR started I was really pessimistic about this woman’s chances of survival,” Zeev relayed. “I think one of the reasons we were successful in the end was that the teamwork was excellent. We rotated performing CPR and helped the paramedic with the administering of medications in a very efficient and professional way. I am really glad that we were able to save her.”

“When you perform CPR and the pulse is restored, it’s an incredibly rewarding feeling,” Rahamim concluded. I sincerely hope that the woman will be able to make a full recovery.”

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