On Friday afternoon at around 2:30 p.m., a man of 95-years-old was found unconscious in his home on HaShaked street in Beit Aryeh. His caretaker came to serve him lunch and then realized that the elderly man lay unresponsive. The caretaker immediately notified the man’s son, who called United Hatzalah. They were assured by dispatch that help was on the way and would arrive shortly. The caretaker began performing guided CPR via the instructions received from the dispatcher.
Amid his Shabbat preparations, United Hatzalah volunteer EMT Daniel Cohen was interrupted by a notification alerting him to the emergency. He abandoned his cooking undertaking, rushed out of his house, and leaped onto his ambucycle. As the address was located just two streets away from Daniel’s home, he managed to arrive at the man’s house within 30 seconds from the time he received the alert.
The trained EMT jumped off of his ambucycle and met the man’s frantic son outside the house. The son led Daniel to where the pulseless elderly man lay on the floor. Daniel took over performing compressions from the caretaker and continued the Resuscitation process.
For the next 10 minutes, Daniel tried to revive the 95-year-old. He performed compressions and attached a defibrillator. For several minutes Daniel was performing CPR on his own but to no avail. The caretaker mentioned to the EMT that the patient had just come home from the hospital the week prior, due to some medical issues for his lungs and kidneys. However, it was nothing that would cause a cardiac arrest and therefore, this incident was unexpected.
When the Mobile Intensive Care Unit finally arrived, the paramedic inserted an IV and administered adrenaline as well as other medications and fluids. After an additional 20 minutes of combined resuscitation efforts, the man’s pulse finally returned thanks to the steadfast work of the first responders. The team continued providing respiratory assistance with oxygen and ultimately evacuated the patient to the nearest hospital, sedated and ventilated.
“This was an out-of-this-world experience,” said volunteer EMT Daniel Cohen. “To be part of a team that brings people back to life is a great feeling. Especially when I am part of the resuscitation effort, I can see firsthand how a person who was essentially dead, is brought back to life once more. I feel so special and proud of our team, myself, and the entire organization.”
After Shabbat, Daniel was notified of the patient’s unfortunate passing in the hospital over the course of the day. While his revival was brief he was able to have one more Shabbat which enabled his son to say goodbye.
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