April 3, 2021 Dedicated by The UK community In honour of the selfless volunteers of United Hatzalah Day of Lifesaving - April 3, 2021 Dedicated by the UK community In honour of the selfless volunteers of United Hatzalah Dear Friends, It is our privilege to dedicate the amazing activities, lifesaving responses, and acts of kindness of United Hatzalah's network of nearly 6,000 volunteers on April 3, 2021 by the UK community. As the Covid-19 pandemic continues to affect lives in Israel, United Hatzalah remains committed to providing professional and caring emergency medical intervention whenever and wherever needed, adapting and modifying to meet new challenges. United Hatzalah has also stepped up to provide humanitarian relief across Israel, coordinating and delivering food packages and prescription medications to elderly citizens, Holocaust survivors and other affected populations. On your Day of Lifesaving, over the course of 24 hours, the United Hatzalah dispatch center dispatched 1,341 emergency calls to its volunteers throughout the country. When the calls came in, these dedicated volunteer medics halted everything to respond to medical emergencies of every type. On this Day of Lifesaving dedicated by the UK community, they stood to answer the call. It is the call to save a life, prevent long-term disability or mitigate trauma. It is the call to make Israel a safer place for us all, this day and every day. It is our honour to share with you some highlights from United Hatzalah's activities on this day. Day of Lifesaving - April 3, 2021 Dedicated by the UK community In honour of the selfless volunteers of United Hatzalah In the middle of the night, a 27 year-old man in Mitzpe Yeriho suddenly suffered a severe allergic reaction, his face swelling drastically and his body breaking out in hives. His alarmed wife urgently called emergency dispatch and a notification was instantaneously sent out to the closest medics in the vicinity. Shlomo Farkas, a volunteer who lives on that very road, was fast asleep when his slumber was rudely disturbed by his United Hatzalah comm device. Recognizing the address as just two buildings down, Shlomo threw back the covers and sprinted out of the door, arriving at the home in record time. At a glance, Shlomo could see that the man was experiencing a dangerous anaphylactic reaction. The man’s airway was constricted; his breathing was becoming more labored by the minute and he was barely able to speak. It was clear that it was just a matter of time before he would stop breathing completely and lose consciousness. Shlomo moved with lightning speed as he swiftly administered an EpiPen shot and then set up an oxygen line. The effect was dramatic and within a matter of minutes, the man was breathing normally. He was even able to turn to his wife and tell her reassuringly that he felt much better. An ambulance arrived and the man was transported to the hospital for further observation while Shlomo returned home to catch some sleep, exhilarated by the knowledge that he had just saved a life. Day of Lifesaving - April 3, 2021 Dedicated by the UK community In honour of the selfless volunteers of United Hatzalah Day of Lifesaving - April 3, 2021 Dedicated by the UK community In honour of the selfless volunteers of United Hatzalah A happy emergency occurred in the early morning hours of April 3, when a young woman’s labor progressed faster than anticipated. Ambulance driver and experienced EMT Avigayil Beer was awakened at 4:50 AM by the brusque voice of a United Hatzalah dispatcher informing her of the incident. Avigayil, who had taken United Hatzalah ambulance #46 for the day, literally jumped out of bed, threw on some clothes and dashed out to the ambulance, racing to the nearby location at top speed. As the first responder to arrive, Avigayil found the young woman outside her building, struggling with intense, rapid-fire contractions. Her husband stood beside her, trying to be a supportive presence for his wife while clearly tense and anxious himself. Avigayil immediately saw that the birth was imminent. She quickly loaded the woman onto the ambulance stretcher and into the vehicle, preparing to drive to the hospital. She was just about to start the engine when the woman cried out that she felt the baby coming! Whipping on her gloves, Avigayil coached the woman through the final stages of the birth process and delivered a beautiful baby girl! The medic dried and warmed the baby as she performed a quick APGAR assessment, pleased to see that the tiny baby girl seemed none the worse for her rather abrupt entry into the world. She cut the umbilical cord and then gently gave the newborn over to her mother as she congratulated the couple on their new baby daughter! Avigayil with newborn babies “I’ve delivered over fifty babies, and each time it’s just so special,” said Avigayil. “It’s incredible to be part of bringing life into the world. For the women, having a female medic at their birth is very meaningful. Emergency childbirth can be very traumatic and receiving sensitive support makes all the difference. The women are always just so, so appreciative.” Day of Lifesaving - April 3, 2021 Dedicated by the UK community In honour of the selfless volunteers of United Hatzalah Overall Hourly Distribution of Calls 100 87 89 90 83 82 76 80 73 67 66 70 62 58 57 58 60 55 55 50 50 44 46 40 40 35 34 34 36 29 30 25 20 10 Number of Calls Dispatched Countrywide Dispatched Calls of Number 0 Day of Lifesaving - April 3, 2021 Dedicated by the UK community In honour of the selfless volunteers of United Hatzalah Yisrael Chanuka, a United Hatzalah medic from Tel Aviv, works in renovations and is a busy father of four, but he always makes time to race out to emergencies. On your Day of Lifesaving, he was at synagogue for the Shabbat and festival services when at 9:01 AM he received an alert to an emergency at a nearby home. The volunteer slipped out of the synagogue as unobtrusively as possible and raced over to the address on his United Hatzalah ambucycle. An elderly woman had been found confused and disoriented when her caregiver came to wake her up in the morning. Yisrael performed a quick stroke assessment and took her vital signs. A clear facial droop and other worrying symptoms indicated that the woman had suffered a cerebrovascular accident (CVA/stroke). The experienced medic monitored the woman as he advised the woman’s daughter to start preparing for a hospital stay. However, the elderly woman resisted, abjectly refusing to go to the hospital and rejecting any attempt by her daughter to persuade her to accept ambulance transport. She had a strong distrust of hospitals and her medical condition had also affected her cognitive functioning. Knowing that further treatment in the hospital was absolutely critical for the woman’s survival, Yisrael sat down beside the elderly patient and began to reassure her, explaining gently that more comprehensive testing could only be done in a hospital setting. The caring medic continued to calm the woman’s fears until she felt safe enough to acquiesce. The medic then helped the ambulance crew to transfer the woman into the emergency vehicle and she was finally evacuated to the hospital. Yisrael returned to the synagogue to catch the end of prayers, gratified to have been able to help. The rest of the day passed uneventfully, until later in the evening. At 9:25 PM, Yisrael responded to a similar emergency, when a 70 year-old woman suffered a brief fainting episode. Arriving in under 90 seconds on his ambucycle, Yisrael found an agitated family surrounding their semi-conscious mother. Yisrael assessed the woman and took her vital signs, discovering that her entire right side was noticeably weaker – clear signs of a stroke. Yisrael reassured the panicked family members as he assisted the arriving ambulance crew to load the patient onto a stretcher for emergency transport to the nearest stroke center. Day of Lifesaving - April 3, 2021 Dedicated by the UK community In honour of the selfless volunteers of United Hatzalah Incident Distribution by City Jerusalem 139 Tel Aviv 134 Haifa 59 Netanya 53 Ramat Gan 42 Petach Tikva 42 Rishon Letzion 40 Bnei Brak 35 Be'er Sheva 34 Holon 33 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 Number of Calls Reported to Dispatchers Day of Lifesaving - April 3, 2021 Dedicated by the UK community In honour of the selfless volunteers of United Hatzalah As always, several United Hatzalah ambulance shifts took place over the day. Ambulance #54 was manned by a staff of medics from East Jerusalem, with ambulance driver Ahmad Shehadeh and a crew of Dr. Murad Oda, Safa Tahaa and Karima Aweeda. They responded to several calls over their morning shift, including a violent altercation and a person feeling unwell. At 10:25 AM, they were alerted to an emergency in Jerusalem’s Old City and immediately raced over, parking as close as possible and then running along the narrow pathways to the address. An elderly woman was breathing laboriously and suffering from a high fever. A quick check of her vital signs revealed low oxygen saturation levels, and the team immediately began oxygen administration to ease the patient’s respiratory distress. Once the woman’s condition had stabilized, the medics gently helped her into an ambulance evacuation chair and then wheeled her along the ancient cobblestoned streets to the waiting ambulance for transport to the hospital.