IsraelSeen Exclusive – Saving A Life Amid Purim Rush
On Tuesday afternoon, volunteer EMT Chezy Roth was at his store in central Jerusalem, tending to his customers who were going about their last-minute Purim shopping when his communications device alerted him to a nearby accident. The address was just two streets away from the location of Chezy’s store. Apologizing to his customers, Chezy rushed out of his store, hopped on his ambucycle that was parked outside, and headed over to Pri Hadash street.
Arriving at the address just a minute later, Chezy found a 60-year-old man lying on the street unconscious. The man was grunting and barely breathing. After a quick check of his vital signs, Chezy found the man taking agonal breaths, his last breaths.
Chezy quickly attached a defibrillator to the man’s chest and began CPR. After the first shock was administered by the defibrillator, additional EMTs arrived at the scene. Working together, the team of seven United Hatzalah EMTs managed to return the man’s pulse after just four minutes of chest compressions and assisted breathing.
Just as the 60-year-old’s pulse returned, a United Hatzalah Mobile Intensive Care Unit (MICU) arrived to assist in the rescue. As the man was being loaded onto the ambulance to be transported to the hospital for continuing care, he once again began to breathe on his own.
“As Purim gets closer, the streets are full, the stores are packed, and everyone is trying to complete their last-minute errands. Central Jerusalem is bustling with people, and I was only able to make my way through the traffic and crowds thanks to my ambucycle,” said Chezy. “When I arrived, the man looked like he was taking his last breaths, if I had been a minute or two later he likely would not have made it. Thankfully I was able to make it in the nick of time, and I was able to start CPR which saved his life.”
