On Sunday, United Hatzalah EMT Efrat Scheinberger was volunteering on an ambulance shift when they were dispatched to a call nearby. A pregnant woman with complications was having contractions and needed to go to the hospital. The ambulance rushed to the scene, arriving in under 3 minutes. 

The team found the woman in the early stages of labor and bleeding. Recognizing the seriousness of the situation, the ambulance crew quickly loaded the woman into the ambulance and sped off to the hospital. 

While en route to the hospital, the patient received a call from her husband, who was trying to find someone to watch their seven-year-old child. Unable to find the last-minute childcare, he decided to bring the child along with him to the hospital. He would meet them there.

At the hospital, medical staff grew increasingly concerned as the fetus’s heart rate dropped and the bleeding continued.

When the patient’s husband arrived with their son, he faced an impossible choice: stay with his frightened child or join his wife in the delivery room. Scheinberger immediately stepped in to resolve the dilemma.

“You need to be with your wife. I’ll stay with your son,” she assured the grateful father, who rushed to his wife’s side. 

Turning to her fellow EMTs, Scheinberger told them to continue their shift without her. “I wouldn’t want my own son sitting alone and scared in a hospital,” she explained.

For 45 minutes, Scheinberger stayed with the boy until a family member came to take the boy home. She helped him stay calm by playing games and reviewing the weekly Torah portion. Someone at the hospital captured a photo of their impromptu outing, documenting this extraordinary moment of kindness.

“There was a really sweet moment,” Scheinberger recalled with a smile. “When the boy heard the sounds of women in labor and became concerned, I told him it was just a bunch of parrots chirping away. We both had a good laugh over that, and it really helped him relax.”

“Being there for that scared little boy, helping him through a difficult moment – this is what United Hatzalah is all about,” Scheinberger said. “We don’t just treat medical emergencies, we care for the whole family.”