IsraelSeen – Helping a Young Girl After A Three Storey Fall
On Tuesday night, at 19:45 p.m., a 12-year-old girl was with her friends in the Sarig outdoor mall, located in the city of Binyamina. The young adults were enjoying playing around the mall, when the girl got on a moving escalator, from the outer side. Hanging on to the moving handrail, the escalator lifted the girl until she fell three flights down. As a result of the fall, the young woman suffered severe injuries.
The loud crying coming from the young girl caused passers-by at the mall to rush over and call United Hatzalah’s Dispatch and Command Center for help. United Hatzalah volunteer EMT Meir Shalev was visiting a friend in the neighboring city of Or Akiva when his communications device alerted him to the emergency occurring at the mall. Apologizing to his friends, Meir jumped on his ambucycle and raced to the location.
Arriving first on the scene, just three minutes after the call was made, Meir located the girl, screaming in agony and unable to move. Identifying himself as a United Hatzalah EMT, Meir checked the girl’s vital signs as he asked a passer-by what had happened. Discovering multiple external injuries, Meir helped bandage the open wounds and applied a neck brace for c-spine stabilization.
The girl’s cries only worsened with time, causing Meir to realize that the girl had suffered multiple internal injuries as well. After 5 minutes, a mobile intensive care ambulance arrived at the scene. Meir quickly briefed the crew on what had happened as they quickly administered medicines to sedate the 12-year-old girl. The girl was then taken to the nearest hospital in critical condition.
“It was not easy hearing the girl’s cries, and even worse when the girl’s mother arrived. It is terrible to see one’s child in such a condition,” commented Meir. “I myself do not have any children yet, but I plan to. It is not discouraging to see these terrible things, if anything, the girl had experienced a miracle. If she would have fallen on her head or neck, the accident could have ended very differently. I’m glad I was able to treat her external injuries so that when the mobile intensive care ambulance arrived, they were able to transport her and get her to a hospital as quickly as they could.”
