Boaz Sharon
IsraelSeen Exclusive – Winning The Battle Against Death Twice in a Weekend
The week after Pesach on Friday afternoon, Boaz Sharon, a graphic designer who lives with his wife and seven children in Kiryat Malachi, was alerted to someone lying in the street outside a store. Boaz didn’t hesitate for a second. The dedicated United Hatzalah volunteer ran to his ambucycle and raced over to the location.
Sharon quickly realized that the 60-year-old man was pulseless. Together with two additional United Hatzalah volunteers who arrived at the scene in less than three minutes, Sharon swung into full-blown CPR. The team of EMTs attached a defibrillator and the device soon advised a shock, followed by another one. A paramedic from United Hatzalah joined the resuscitation effort and began providing medication. Sometime later the intensive care ambulance crew arrived and joined the resuscitation. The lead paramedic decided to transport the man to the hospital while still undergoing CPR, and Sharon assisted in transferring the man onto a stretcher and into the ambulance. During transport, the man regained a pulse. He continued on to the hospital in stable condition for further treatment, emergency catheterization, and observation.
That same weekend on the morning between Saturday night and Sunday morning just after 2:00 a.m., Sharon received an emergency alert about a shooting incident in a residential area. Dashing to his ambucycle, Sharon raced to the scene and arrived in less than two minutes. Two people had been shot; one man was screaming in agony from a bullet to his leg, while the other lay ominously silent, bleeding from a gunshot wound to his chest. Sharon immediately turned to the more critically injured man, who was rapidly losing consciousness and within seconds lost a pulse completely! Once again, Sharon clasped his hands together in the familiar position and began CPR. Additional United Hatzalah first responders arrived and assisted Sharon in the resuscitation as well as treated the other victim. After an intense effort, the volunteers succeeded in returning a steady pulse and the man was rushed off to the hospital in the ambulance which had arrived in the meantime.
“Having one successful CPR in a month is rare, having two in a weekend is almost unheard of,” said Sharon after the incident. Sharon had performed a successful CPR less than two months earlier on another individual just before Purim. “I have been blessed to be part of an amazing organization that enables me to arrive at the scene of emergencies very quickly. The speed in which the medical treatment and intervention that I as well as other volunteers provide increases the chances of survival of the patient astronomically,” he added.
“I am thankful that United Hatzalah gives me and other volunteers everything we need in order to succeed in saving lives and making an impact however long that impact may last for. Whether it is by providing us with training or equipment that we need to provide basic or advanced life support, or emotional help and intervention via the Psychotrauma and Crisis Response Unit following tragic incidents, or even helping us get motivated by creating social events for us and our families with other volunteers in our chapter, United Hatzalah really takes care of us and that gives us a strong push to keep answering calls. My family is also a big part of what I do. They are used to me rushing out to respond to emergency situations and they support me in doing that. With seven children at home, without their understanding and support, it wouldn’t be possible.”
