Raphael Dan Michaeli
Raphael Dan MichaeliUnited Hatzalah

On Sunday morning, just after 8:00 a.m. passersby spotted a woman sprawled on a mattress in an alleyway just off of Bnei Brak Street in Tel Aviv. Worried about her well-being, the concerned citizens called emergency services and requested assistance.

United Hatzalah volunteer EMT and ambucyclist Raphael Dan Michaeli was in the middle of his morning commute from his home in Ramat Gan to his office in Tel Aviv when he received the alert. He quickly switched on the sirens of his ambucycle and sped over to the location of the incident just two blocks away. Raphael arrived in less than three minutes.

Avraham Levy who lives in Netanya and works in Tel Aviv was just finishing a different medical emergency on Dizengoff Street when he received the emergency alert and headed over to Bnei Brak Street. Shai Fargoun who lives in the town of Achiezer and was also on his way to work in Tel Aviv turned off of the highway in his car and drove to the scene, arriving just a moment after Dan Michaeli and Levy.

“When I arrived, I found a Homeless woman lying on a mattress in the alley,” said Dan Michaeli. “It was unclear what had caused the woman’s condition but whatever it was, I could not find a pulse. Together with Levy, Fargoun, and an ambulance team that had also been close by and arrived around the same time I did, I began CPR. We attached a defibrillator that did not advise a shock, so we continued with compressions and ventilation, alternating between the various members of the team. A mobile intensive care ambulance arrived sometime later and joined the effort. It took the combined team about 10 minutes before we succeeded at bringing the woman’s pulse back. Once she was stabilized, she was transported to the hospital with a steady pulse and regular blood pressure.”

Levy said: “It was kind of incredible to go from the emergency on Dizengoff, where we were not able to save the person and switch immediately to an emergency where we managed to save a life. For me, this was very meaningful.”

Fargoun added: “I am always happy to start off my morning by helping someone and saving a life. Any day that begins like that is a good day.”

Dan Michaeli, who has been in the field of emergency medicine for the past 35 years and has seen his fair share of medical emergencies concluded by saying, “I started as a teenager as I always liked helping others. I’ve seen some really terrible incidents including the period of time during the early 2000s when there were bombings all across the country. Each incident is different. While this isn't new for me, it is always meaningful to save a life. Whenever I can help someone it is important, but in an instance where I can really make a difference, it makes being a volunteer worth the time and effort. Today was one of those days.”