IsraelSeen Exclusive – Deena Hornstein-Finding The Lost Victim
Recently, an accident occurred on Route 437, near the Palestinian town of Hizma. The accident was between a car and a motorcycle. United Hatzalah volunteer EMT and police officer Eli Avraham was alerted by dispatch and immediately rushed to the scene. Eli discovered a vehicle that had been partially crushed and a severely damaged motorcycle. According to bystanders the two vehicles had collided at high speed.
Eli quickly assessed the scene and saw that oddly, there were no victims on site. He then received an update from United Hatzalah’s dispatch letting him know that the call had been canceled.
Surveying the scene once again, and seeing the level of carnage of the two vehicles, Eli Knew that there had to be injured people somewhere.
One of the bystanders noticed Eli’s United Hatzalah uniform scanning the area and directed Eli to a nearby car wash facility. Sheltering inside the building was the injured motorcyclist. The man was slumped in a chair and pale from the loss of blood. He was groaning in pain but unable to move much beyond that.
Eli immediately alerted dispatch that he had found one of the patients and requested that the ambulance be dispatched once again. As he assessed the victim, Eli revealed severe swelling and bruising on the man’s upper leg indicating a probable fracture. He also saw that the man had suffered injuries to his hand, deep wounds on his back, and was suffering from a lack of sensation in his neck. Eli treated the injured man by affixing a neck brace to prevent further spinal injury, he applied trauma bandages to the open wounds and immobilized the man until the ambulance arrived.
Eli helped load the victim onto the ambulance who was then taken to Shaare Zedek Trauma Center in Jerusalem for further care and treatment.
“When I received the alert canceling the call I knew something wasn’t right,” said Eli. “I saw the two vehicles severely damaged and something inside told me that I had to stay and find the victims. The motorcyclist was brought to a nearby car wash by concerned witnesses, luckily one of them came back to tell me where he was and I was able to give him the onsite treatment he needed and help get him to a hospital for further care”.
