On Sunday night just after 8 p.m., a 43-year-old man with no chronic illnesses was on a jog on Metula street in Holon when he suddenly collapsed. Alarmed neighbors who witnessed the man collapse quickly called United Hatzalah’s Dispatch and Command Center. Just three minutes after the neighbor called, United Hatzalah volunteers began arriving at the scene. 

The first volunteer to arrive was the Holon chapter head Yosef Shushan. Quickly locating the unconscious man who was lying on the ground, Yosef checked the 43-year-old’s vitals. Yosef launched into full-blown CPR with the help of other volunteer EMTs Alex Dizik, Anton Novikov, Eliyahu Maimon, and Inon Shov. 

 

Yosef and his team attached a defibrillator which advised a shock. After one shock was administered, the five EMTs continued with chest compressions and assisted breathing until the man’s pulse returned just ten minutes later. 

 

As the man regained his pulse, a mobile intensive care unit ambulance arrived at the scene. Yosef briefed the crew as the other volunteers helped load the man onto the ambulance to be taken to the hospital. 

 

After Yosef returned home, a paramedic from the mobile intensive care unit ambulance who knew Yosef called him to congratulate him. The paramedic told Yosef that after arriving at the hospital, the doctors told her that if it weren’t for the first responders at the scene, the man wouldn’t be alive. 

 

“It was very uplifting for my team and I to save a life last night, specifically,” commented Yosef. “Earlier on Sunday, my team and I responded to the bombing incident that took place on Yirmiyahu Street. When we responded to the incident, we didn’t know that the victim’s fate had already been sealed before the call to United Hatzalah was even made. When we arrived, at the scene there was nothing for us to do and no way to help the man who had been killed in the explosion. Our Psychotrauma and Crisis Response Unit  was called in to assist the witnesses of the explosion, but we were helpless to assist the victim.” 

 

Yosef continued, “It hurt to see members of our community in tears, and we did all we could to help, but in reality, we could not save the man, it was too late. When this second emergency took place just a few hours later, we viewed it as a second chance to help someone. We didn’t leave any room for chance to decide this time. We rushed to the scene, provided an expert level of care and we beat the clock and saved a life. It was closing a circle and rejuvenating for us to help.” 

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