On Monday night in Ramat Beit Shemesh, a young woman suffered a severe allergic reaction after eating a pastry. She immediately called emergency services.

United Hatzalah volunteer EMT Naftali Dajilovsky was driving to work when he was alerted about the emergency down the block. He drove to the scene and arrived within a minute at the location of the emergency. 

A woman, struggling to breathe, was anxiously waiting in the street. Despite the difficulty, she managed to convey to the first responder that she had eaten a pastry and was experiencing the symptoms she is familiar with due to her allergy to soya. With no intervention, her airways were at risk of being fully blocked due to the rapid swelling of her throat and tongue. While she usually carried an EpiPen on her at all times, she had forgotten it at home.

Dajilovsky immediately took out his EpiPen from his medic bag and, after checking the validity of the device, injected it for three seconds in the woman’s thigh. She quickly began feeling better. The volunteer monitored her vitals, which improved gradually until she stabilized and went back to her normal self. 

“It’s an incredibly rewarding feeling, the feeling of truly saving a life,” reflected Dajilovsky after the incident. “It really underscores the importance of first responders being equipped with EpiPens and arriving quickly at the scene of these allergy-related emergencies.”