Dan responding to the call
Dan responding to the callUnited Hatzalah

Early Sunday morning in Tel Aviv, just after 7:00 a.m., United Hatzalah volunteer EMT Dan Shmuel was sleeping when he was woken by the sound of his emergency communications device. A 60-year-old man lost consciousness and collapsed on Allenby Street in Tel Aviv, not far from where Dan lives. Not wasting a second, Dan quickly got dressed and rushed down the one flight of stairs from his apartment to the street and climbed into his mini-lance that was parked in his special spot, right outside the building.

Dan is a disabled person who walks with a cane due to having lost the use of one of his legs in a motorcycle accident more than 20 years ago. He has since learned to cope with his disability and doesn’t let it stop him from saving lives whenever he is called upon to do so.

Dan arrived at the scene of the emergency in just under two minutes from the time when he received the alert. The veteran EMT spotted the unconscious man lying on the street. A passer-by with no medical training saw the man collapse and began performing ad hoc chest compressions in an effort to keep the man’s heart going. Quickly taking over the compressions, Dan launched into CPR and alerted the dispatcher that additional assistance was needed. As additional medical personnel began to arrive at the scene, they joined the effort, attached a defibrillator, provided assisted ventilation, and rotated performing compressions with Dan. Ten minutes later, a mobile intensive care ambulance arrived and joined the lifesaving effort.

After half an hour of intensive CPR, the defibrillator finally advised a shock. After only one shock, the man’s pulse returned, and the man began regaining consciousness.

After checking the man’s vital signs to make sure that they were stable, the man was taken to the nearest hospital. Dan together with the rest of the assembled first responders breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn’t comfortable for Dan, or even easy, to do what he had just done, but he had helped save a man’s life, and that is what being a first responder is all about. Dan then returned home to start his day of work as an Osteopath and apologized to his clients for his tardiness.

“In the year 2000, I was involved in a motor accident that permanently affected my legs,” commented Dan. “I walk around with a cane, but this does not prevent me from continuing to volunteer. With the special ‘mini-lance’ that I was given by United Hatzalah, I am able to get around the congested streets of Tel Aviv quickly and easily. Sometimes, when I am treating one of my osteopath patients I have to apologize and leave because a medical emergency is occurring nearby, and I am the nearest volunteer. I will always Respond to a nearby alert, no matter what the circumstances are and regardless of my condition. My patients know this and have even come to respect it, after all, we all live together in the same community and we all need to help each other to make sure that we can keep doing so.”