IsraelSeen Exclusive – Week of Births For Volunteer Officer and EMS Responder Symbolize Decade of Responding
Local Yavneh Police officer Asher Malka is a busy man. He is a husband, a father, a police officer and a United Hatzalah volunteer EMS first responder. Malka is often on the go and is always ready to save lives. Luckily, he rides one of United Hatzalah’s ambucycles in order to help him get around from place to place and answer emergency calls. On a recent weekend, Malka delivered two babies, and in spite of his decade of responding, these are the first two babies he helped deliver with his own hands.
On Friday morning, Malka had just finished escorting his children to school when United Hatzalah’s Dispatch and Command Center alerted him to a medical emergency in his close proximity. A woman nearby had just gone into active labor. Malka immediately slipped on his protective ambucycle jacket and raced out the door. He arrived at the location of the emergency in less than three minutes and was the first responder on scene.
Malka assessed that the young woman’s labor was progressing rapidly, but the patient was determined to make it to the hospital. When the crew of the Mobile Intensive Care Ambulance arrived, the woman made a dash for the door. She barely made it halfway down the stairs however before the baby’s head began to crown! Malka, together with other first responders helped the expectant mother down the stairs and helped her deliver the baby right then and there.
The following Tuesday, Malka was at his local police station when he received yet another alert from United Hatzalah dispatch regarding a birth in progress. He once again raced to the scene and arrived in a few short minutes. This birth too went off successfully and Malka was able to help coach the mother through the birth. The cries of the newborn baby were mixed with the joyous cries and tears of both mother and father as the umbilical cord was cut. Asher helped clean and warm the baby, placing the little boy in his grateful mother’s arms.
When asked about how he manages to pack in all the time and energy needed to be a loving husband, father, dedicated police officer and EMS volunteer, Malka responded and said: “It’s certainly not easy to do everything especially all at once. I have to often separate between my police work and my volunteering and wear different hats at different emergencies, but all of the work is important so I make it work. I wouldn’t give up on any of it. I feel that it is incredibly important to give back to one’s community and make one’s own city a better place to live.”
Malka has been a volunteer with the organization for almost a decade and spoke highly of his service and experiences. “Volunteering here fills me up to go out and continue working, both as an EMT and as a police officer. It helps me recharge my batteries. Each incident is unique and complex in its own ways, but it certainly fills me with a passion to want to continue to help others. I highly recommend that everyone volunteer in their own community in their own way. Not everyone can be an EMT or a police officer, but everyone can find something that they are good at and use that to volunteer to make their city and their community a better place to live.”
