2. We received a call for a 2 year old
who was badly burned on his chest. We arrived at his house
immediately and he was badly burned on his chest and stomach
but he was so hysterical that we couldn’t treat him.
We brought him into the ambulance and we pulled out some toys
that we keep in our toy drawer in the ambulance for cases like
this. The toys immediately calmed him down. This enabled us
to treat him with special cream on his burns which the doctors
at the hospital pointed out greatly helped his recovery. Today
he is almost completely recovered. He probably only remembers
the toys that we gave him (and let him keep as our present)
from the ambulance.
3. About an hour before Simchat Torah
this year, we got a call about a one year old boy who had stopped
breathing and turned blue. We quickly got to the boy and indeed
he had lost consciousness. He swallowed a small ball that he
found in the house and it was stuck and blocking his windpipe.
I have to admit, my heart broke when I saw this child. He was
already dressed in his holiday clothing – such a cute
adorable kid and his life was about to come to an end because
he put a little ball in his mouth! I said to the other paramedics
there – we are not going to stop until he comes back
to life! One of the paramedics got the ball out, however he
was already in a state of clinical death due to lack of oxygen.
We worked on him for 35 minutes until finally we felt a pulse.
We rushed him to the hospital. He was in a coma for 2 months
and then, slowly, he started waking up. Today, this boy is
alive. His parents had to start over with him – as if
he was just born – and it is not easy. But little by
little he is progressing. We succeeded in saving this boy’s
life and as our Sages taught us - whoever saves one life is
as if he saved the whole world.
4. One of the reasons I love living in
Ramat Bet Shemesh is the fresh air, the greenery, and the beautiful
mountains. However, those mountains have a negative aspect.
As the sun sets behind those mountains it blinds motorists
and traffic accidents are more likely to occur. One day at
such a time, we received a call of a bad accident. Two cars
crashed in to each other head-on. One of the cars was driving
very fast. Inside it was a boy and girl. The other car had
a pregnant woman towards the end of her pregnancy. She was
injured critically. We tried to revive the woman – at
one point we were about to give up when one of our paramedics
said – if we can’t save the woman at least let’s
save the baby. We rushed her to the shock trauma unit of Hadasah
Hospital in Jerusalem. The woman was in a coma for a week and
then woke up. One of the first things she told her doctors
was that she wants to meet the paramedics that saved her life.
We gladly gave her a visit and we were all so happy. Little
by little she recuperated and six weeks later she gave birth
to a healthy baby boy.
These are just a few stories that came
to my mind as I sat down to write. There are literally hundreds
more. All of these people owe a tremendous debt of gratitude
to the Morgenstern family who so generously donated our ambulance
to our community in memory of their daughter Nancy. May her memory
be a blessing.
