At around 1:45 p.m. on Sunday, a 70-year-old man collapsed unconscious after suffering from a cardiac arrest on Hanitah Street in the Neve Sha’anan neighborhood of Haifa. As a result of the fall, he also sustained a large laceration on his forehead. 

 

United Hatzalah volunteer EMT Dudi Cohen works with youth at risk and was in the middle of a meeting with the parents of one of the children whom he works with when he received a notification of the emergency. He apologized to the couple, telling them that he would return soon, and left the cafe immediately.

 

Dudi drove up and down Hanitah Street on his ambucycle, scanning for the man in need of immediate medical attention, but it took a while to find his exact location. Despite this slight delay, Dudi arrived within 2 minutes from when he received the call and was the first responder at the scene. 

 

A concerned passerby named Shlomi spotted the United Hatzalah volunteer as he pulled up on his ambucycle and urgently called him over to help. Dudi grabbed his medical kit and ran over to the man lying unconscious on the sidewalk. He took the man’s vitals and found none. The patient showed no signs of a pulse and was not breathing. 

 

Dudi started CPR and asked Shlomi to bring over the defibrillator from the medical kit because he had no time to spare. Shlomi opened the defibrillator and they attached it to the man’s chest. The first shock was administered and Dudi continued with additional chest compressions. Other United Hatzalah volunteers joined the CPR efforts a few moments later. Together they succeeded in bringing back the man’s pulse to a steady rhythm. A few minutes later, the man began to breathe independently once again. The CPR had been a success. The EMTs then proceeded to bandage the bleeding head wound that the man had sustained when he fell. 

 

After the EMTs stabilized the man’s condition, the 70-year-old was rushed to the hospital in the mobile intensive care ambulance that had arrived for observation and further care.

 

Following the incident, Dudi said, “I feel that my mission in life is to save the lives of others. There is no greater satisfaction than from successful situations where I happen to be in the right place at the right time and do everything I can to save the life of another person. Thankfully today was one of those days.”

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