On Monday night, just before 9:00 p.m., Yosef Amir was in his car on his way home, in Rosh Ha’ayin, after a long day of work. Yosef works long hours in a high-tech company, and when he is not working, Yosef volunteers as a United Hatzalah EMT. While he was driving along route 5, Yosef’s communications device alerted him to a nearby emergency on Etrog street, just a block away from his home. Pressing on the gas, Yosef sped to the given location.
Arriving first at the location of the emergency just a few minutes later, Yosef entered the home of a man who he thought was having trouble breathing, as the dispatcher had initially said that this was an emergency involving respiratory distress. However, Yosef was surprised to find an unconscious and pulseless 93-year-old, lying on his couch.
The elderly man had been suffering from severe pneumonia over the winter, causing his breathing to worsen. As the man felt he could not breathe properly, he called United Hatzalah’s Dispatch and Command Center. A few minutes before Yosef arrived, he had stopped breathing completely and collapsed.
Yosef began checking the man’s vital signs and discovering that his pulse had just recently faded out. He began performing CPR on the unconscious man. Just then a mobile intensive care unit that happened to be in the area arrived to assist Yosef. Together with the ambulance crew, Yosef carried on with the CPR efforts. After multiple rounds of chest compressions, the paramedic asked Yosef to request that additional responders join the effort and Yosef called for backup.
Just one minute after Yosef had asked for help, United Hatzalah volunteers Avi Nissan and Ido Ashraf arrived at the scene and immediately joined in the CPR efforts, allowing the paramedic to administer medicines to the patient. After 25 minutes, the man’s pulse returned and he was taken to the nearest hospital for further treatment.
After making sure that the patient was stable and on his way to the hospital, Yosef embraced his fellow Rosh Ha’ayin chapter EMTs and then drove home.
“I am very busy, but I am never too busy to respond to a medical emergency. There is always time to save a life,” commented Yosef. “After the man’s pulse returned and his vitals were checked, his pupils did not react to light, and I was afraid that he may have suffered some brain damage and might not make a full recovery. However, we did manage to bring back his pulse, and he was taken to the hospital in stable condition. I feel fulfilled that I did what I could do to help give him a fighting chance at survival. I took time from my day to save a life, and even if the patient's life is not the same after this experience, his life was saved and that’s what counts.”