Roman Firas is a father of four and a dedicated United Hatzalah volunteer, hailing from the town of Ein-Rafa, located near Jerusalem. Roman serves as a dispatcher at United Hatzalah’s headquarters in Jerusalem and the co-head of the Muslim East-Jerusalem Chapter of the organization. He has been volunteering for over six years.

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Last month, Roman was sitting in a cafe with a fellow United Hatzalah EMT, when they received an emergency notification regarding an injured person at a nearby police station. Roman and his colleague quickly jumped on their ambucycles and sped to the given location. They arrived in sixty seconds and were quickly rushed to the investigations room.

A man in his fifties had been involved in a violent altercation in his home. He was arrested and brought to the police station for questioning. Roman entered the investigations room and found the entire room covered with trails of blood. Police officers pointed out a laceration on the man’s arm, but Roman immediately suspected that the man had sustained other bleeding injuries as well. The police’s description of the wound did not match the amount of blood that Roman and his partner saw.

After a rapid, thorough check, Roman discovered a deep stab wound to the man’s shoulder that had been hidden under his shirt. The EMT quickly stemmed the hemorrhaging, applied combat bandages and set up an IV line to replace lost fluids. Additionally, Roman tried speaking to the police about what had happened exactly in the house, to understand the situation better. His instincts indicated that something was wrong, but the police refused to deliver any information at that point in the investigation. Roman continued assisting the patient as best he could without knowing the causes of the wounds.

By the time an ambulance arrived, the man had been stabilized and was ready to be transported to the hospital for further treatment, but the confused middle-aged man refused. Roman and his fellow EMT sat with the man for a few minutes convincing him that his transfer to the hospital was crucial. The man finally agreed and was transported to the nearest hospital under police custody.

“My colleague and I later discovered that the man had been diagnosed with a psychological disease, and was receiving psychiatric treatment,” Roman mentioned. “I could tell by his facial expressions that he was confused and scared. It pains me to see people suffer from a medical emergency, but as a United Hatzalah volunteer, I do everything in my power to help and make the patient feel more comfortable. I feel that it is my duty to do everything I can to assist anyone in need.”

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