From Right to left - Moshe Mor, Simcha Levi, Tevel Arbel, and Elchanan Hajabi
From Right to left - Moshe Mor, Simcha Levi, Tevel Arbel, and Elchanan HajabiUnited Hatzalah - with permission from the patient

Over the holiday of Sukkot, United Hatzalah emergency medical service volunteers met with a woman whose life they saved just a few weeks prior. Simcha Levi, the woman they saved, and her family, hosted the volunteers in her family’s Sukkah in Ashdod in order to say thank you for the assistance when she needed it most.

Almost one month ago, United Hatzalah’s Dispatch and Command Center received an emergency phone call regarding an unconscious woman who was not breathing and had no pulse. Volunteers Tevel Arbel, Elchanan Hajabi and Moshe Mor, were alerted to the emergency and being in the area, they immediately rushed to the woman’s aid. Upon arrival, they immediately began to perform CPR on Simcha. Simcha was taken to Kaplan hospital after the volunteers had succeeded at bringing back her pulse and getting her heart beating once again.

Simcha invited the volunteers to celebrate with her in her Sukkah during the festival in order to say thank you for saving her life. During the celebration, Simcha and her family thanked the volunteers profusely for their assistance, and the volunteers shared their perspective with Simcha what had happened during the fateful night in her home when her life was saved.

Simcha’s family told the emergency medical technicians that the doctors in Kaplan hospital had told them on numerous occasions while she was hospitalized that the CPR which they had performed on Simcha was what saved her life. They told the volunteers that from that day onwards, they were considered part of the family.

One particular volunteer who responded to the call, Moshe Mor, had just finished his EMT training course the day before the incident. The previous evening he had attended his graduation in Yavneh, and the next night he was one of the responders who saved Simcha’s life.

“I am feeling incredibly uplifted this evening,” said Mor after visiting Simcha and seeing her alive and well. “I always heard about stories like this from other responders during our course, but I did not think that I would have such an experience so soon after beginning my volunteering. Saving someone’s life with CPR on my first day is simply incredible. I am moved beyond words to be here and see Simcha alive and well. I understand now just how important our volunteering is.”

Head of United Hatzalah in the Rehovot region, Yoni Rotenberg said: “I am happy to hear of yet another life being saved by our volunteers. Another life was saved due to the widespread reach of our network of volunteers and their expert treatment and quick response times and that is what our organization is all about. I would personally like to thank our President and Founder Eli Beer for all of the support that he gives to our chapter and to each and every one of the volunteers who make up this organization.”