It was an otherwise peaceful Friday in Jerusalem, a young couple, Dovi and Batya Widawsky, who had gotten married only two days prior, were getting ready for Shabbat when the day was brutally interrupted as a terrorist rammed a car directly into a bus stop packed with families and children.

Dovi and Batya were in the Ramot neighborhood when the attack transpired nearby. 

“My wife and I were on the way to celebrate Shabbat with family and friends in Ramot. We had just gotten married on Wednesday evening,” said Dovi. “Both of us were previously volunteer first responders with United Hatzalah. I am an EMT and my wife is part of the Psychotrauma and Crisis Response Unit. We were only a few minutes away from the bus stop and we both rushed to the site of the attack. When we first got there the scene was still in its initial medical treatment stage, Batya began to help with the family of the two children who were in critical condition and eventually passed away. The child’s father is still at the hospital.” 

“What happened is very sad, but we do our best to help when we can. We happened to have been on the scene of previous terror attacks recently as well. Since we are both volunteers and we now travel together, we get to respond to calls together,” he added.

Batya added, “We got the emergency alert just as we were coming up to the Ramot junction located not too far away from the scene. We rushed over, and as we arrived I ran up to the chief scene officer of the Psychotrauma and Crisis Response Unit, Daniel Katzenstein who pointed me in the direction of some of the family members of those who had been hurt in the attack.” 

“I assisted in stabilizing emotionally a young boy who was undergoing questioning by police as he had been an eyewitness to the incident. After I treated him and he was stable, I treated a woman who was also at the scene, the mother of one of the victims, with various interventions and accompanied her as she was taken to identify her son. It was a very difficult situation but I am glad I was able to provide some help in the face of this tragedy,” she concluded.

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