In what turned out to be a dramatic and successful CPR last Friday evening, just as Shabbat was beginning, a father collapsed in front of his son and was saved by the quick reaction of his neighbor, United Hatzalah volunteer EMT Kalanit Taub, together with other first responders.
The father was assisting an ambulance driver in carrying his grown son up two flights of stairs. The son, who tested positive for Covid-19, had been rushed to the hospital after falling and suffering a head injury that required stitches.
At home, the patient’s father assisted the ambulance driver—who was working alone in keeping with the Corona patient transfer protocol—in carrying his son up to the second floor on an exterior staircase. The son was too weak to climb the stairs on his own.
At the top of the stairs, the father started to feel faint and then collapsed. Hard rain was coming down, and the ambulance driver, who had no equipment on him, called for help and began chest compressions on the father.
United Hatzalah volunteer EMT Kalanit Taub was at home in Efrat when she received the alert for an emergency on her street. Kalanit grabbed her vest and defibrillator and rushed to the scene, arriving there in less than a minute. She joined the efforts of the ambulance driver and attached her defibrillator which advised shocking the patient. After the shock, they attached an Ambu bag valve mask (BVM) as other volunteers were rushing up the stairs, donned personal protective suits, and joined the CPR effort.
United Hatzalah volunteer Raphael Poch had just responded to a different emergency in a northern neighborhood of Efrat together with EMT volunteer Eytan Yammer when they received the alert about the collapsed man and the CPR efforts in progress. Shortly thereafter another announcement went out on the radio notifying the responders there was no available ambulance with emergency equipment in town (the one parked downstairs was for deliveries only) and a proper ambulance was on its way from a nearby town. Yammer and Poch rushed to the scene, as did Dr. Yitzchak Glick, Mitch Eichen, and Adi Kolani. The remaining volunteers arrived in the mobile intensive care ambulance that had sped over, donned their personal protection (PPE) suits and joined the effort to revive the patient.
With six United Hatzalah volunteers and the ambulance crew working as a team, everyone assisting in the CPR efforts, Poch, who is also a member of the organization’s Psychotrauma and Crisis Response Unit, switched hats and began providing emotional and psychological support to the children of the collapsed man who had witnessed his fall.
All the man’s children are grown men and women, and all of them had tested positive for the Corona and were in a state of emotional shock. They had been out in the rain watching the medical teams perform CPR on their dad, so Poch ushered them inside, helped them find blankets, and reassured them that everything that can be done to save their father’s life was being done.
The rain and cold proved helpful for the CPR effort, slowing down the man’s system and preventing the onset of brain damage.
After receiving a second shock from the defibrillator, the man’s pulse stabilized, and he began breathing on his own. The teams continued with assisted breathing and monitored the man closely as he slowly regained consciousness. Once the man had stabilized enough to be transported, he was lifted down the stairs and for the second time that day headed to the hospital. Dr. Glick, the most senior caregiver at the scene, drove behind the ambulance and accompanying the man into the emergency room.
Most of the volunteers returned home and welcomed Shabbat. Raphael Poch stayed for a while to make sure the family knew the CPR had been a success and was able to process the incident. The most important aspect of the psychological first aid was to make sure that their immediate needs were taken care of and that they had a viable support system from caring neighbors who came to stay with them following the traumatic incident.
“It was so strange to perform CPR on my neighbor,” said Kalanit. “One minute I see my neighbor taking out the trash, the next I’m in his home fighting to save his life. I’ve lived in this neighborhood in Efrat for close to 15 years, and I have known my neighbor for that long. I am glad the CPR was successful. I’ve performed many CPRs in my time as an EMT, and this was by far the hardest I have endured. I look forward to seeing my neighbor after he makes a full recovery and I hope to have a closer relationship with him and his family.”
