Avigad Akiva
IsraelSeen Exclusive – Cleaning the Blood Off Of The Floor
Avigad Akiva lives in Rosh Ha’ayin with his wife and children and works in the local Chabad House in the city. He lives to help others and has found volunteering as a United Hatzalah EMT to be a perfect way to continue to give back to his community. Avigad assists people in all sorts of medical emergencies including motor vehicle accidents that occur in and around Rosh Ha’ayin.
In mid-July, United Hatzalah’s Dispatch and Command Center alerted Avigad to an adult male suffering from severe blood loss in his near vicinity. The devoted EMT quickly locked up the office and hurried outside to his ambucycle. Within just 2 minutes, he arrived at the home of the person suffering.
The patient’s panicked girlfriend waved Avigad inside, where he found a massive pool of blood on the living room floor. Following the trail further, Avigad discovered the 55-year-old man in critical danger, bleeding out from post-surgical complications following a gastrointestinal procedure.
With no time to spare, Avigad staunched the heavy hemorrhaging and packed the injury site with gauze. The EMT opened an I.V. line and administered restorative fluids, monitoring the patient’s condition carefully as he calmed and reassured the man (and his panicked girlfriend).
By the time the crew of the Mobile Intensive Care Unit joined them on scene, 10 minutes later, the patient’s condition had stabilized. Avigad assisted as the patient was carefully transferred outside, loaded into the ambulance and evacuated to the emergency room. Always thinking about the how he can help others, the dedicated United Hatzalah volunteer stayed behind, as the man and his girlfriend went to the hospital, and cleaned the blood off of the floor. After a lengthy cleaning effort, Avigad finally took his leave. He headed back to work, exhausted but gratified to have been there for the man in his hour of need.
This situation could easily have turned fatal, were it not for Avigad’s rapid arrival and medical intervention.
