Beitar Illit – In an emotional reunion that took place on Thursday, Rabbi B., a resident of Beitar Illit was reunited with the United Hatzalah volunteers who saved his life twice after he suffered two cardiac arrests within two weeks of each other, both on Shabbat.
During the joyous reunion, Rabbi B. heard from the volunteers the chain of events that had enabled them to arrive within mere seconds and bring him back to life thanks to intensive resuscitation efforts during both of the incidents.
“It was a Shabbat morning, I was praying in shul in front of your apartment, and within 90 seconds from the moment I received the notification, you had already received an electric shock with my defibrillator,” recounted volunteer EMT Yaakov Waluch about the first incident. “When I arrived at the scene I saw that you were pulseless and not breathing, and your son had initiated CPR. I had only received the defibrillator a few days earlier, and it was the first Shabbat I was on call in the neighborhood.”
Elkana Broyer, who had joined Yaakov at the first incident, added: “Two weeks later, on Friday night, I received an alert about a call on the same street, and on my way there I realized that it was the exact same address. This time, I had the privilege of attaching my defibrillator, which I had fundraised for in memory of my mother, and together with Yossi Horowitz, who was the volunteer on shift that Shabbat I was able to treat you. Yossi arrived at the same time as I did and initiated CPR while I attached the defibrillator. We administered three shocks and by the time the intensive care ambulance arrived you had regained consciousness.”
Rabbi B., who preferred to stay anonymous and not give a quote on record, thanked each of the volunteers profusely for their part in saving his life and gave each of the volunteers a “Certificate of Lifesaving” in his name and in the name of the management of United Hatzalah.
