HATZALAH
https://israelrescue.org/
by Raphael
Poch 15-10-2017
On Thursday a two-year-old boy
left his family’s sukkah in the French Hill neighborhood of Jerusalem just
after lunch and made his way to a nearby pond where he slipped and drowned. The
missing boy was underwater for sometime before he was located by his worried
parents who immediately called emergency services. United Hatzalah volunteer
EMTs Meir Framowitz and Yishai Blau were the closest responders to the incident
and arrived in less than two minutes from the time the call went out.
When they arrived they were
handed a young boy, completely blue who was not breathing and had no pulse. The
immediately began CPR on the young boy named Elchanan while his family and
onlookers prayed for the boy’s recovery. A few minutes later they were joined
by other first responders and an ambulance team who took Elchanan to the
hospital where the resuscitative efforts were continued.
Dr. Adam Ballin, a volunteer
with United Hatzalah’s Psychotrauma and Crisis Response Unit arrived at the
scene in an effort to comfort Elchanan’s parents. Dr. Ballin accompanied the
distraught mother to the hospital after the father had gone with the ambulance.
He spent 5 hours with the family in the hospital until the holiday had ended
and Elchanan’s condition had stabilized somewhat. “The doctors who were
treating him in the hospital said that he was in serious condition but stable
later that evening,” explained Ballin. “We were praying that Elchanan recovered
and that there would not be any brain damage.”
Elchanan dancing on
stage
Their prayers were answered.
Elchanan was released from hospital on Monday morning, and due to the quick
intervention by the first responders, he made a full recovery. “I didn’t want
to tell the parents at the time but their boy was clinically dead when the team
arrived, and he was brought back from the brink,” said Dr. Ballin. “The chances
of this kind of CPR succeeding on a young boy in this situation are
infinitesimal.”
Elchanan and his parents
Yehoshua and Rivkah were invited by United Hatzalah to tell their story in
front of the gathered crowd at the annual Sukkot concert on Monday evening.
Elchanan who had just been released from hospital earlier that day ran, jumped
and played on stage as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. The family
thanked the first responders who saved their child’s life on stage in a
heartfelt speech that left the audience in tears.
Framowitz said that: “Seeing
Elchanan laugh, play and roll around on stage as if nothing had happened five
days prior was simply miraculous. This organization gave us the tools, the
technology and the training needed to create a miracle, and that miracle is now
smiling and laughing with us on stage here at this concert.”
Dr. Ballin added that: “We
succeeded together in saving Elchanan’s life and giving this family something
to celebrate rather than mourn. Being on stage with him tonight was simply out
of this world. On Sukkot afternoon that child was basically dead and now he is
up and around and jumping on stage and has a bright future in front of him. It
was simply unbelievable.”
At the concert, both Rivkah and
Yehoshua thanked United Hatzalah and the first responders for their quick
life-saving intervention.
“I want to thank you from the
bottom of my heart for bringing my baby back,” said Rivkah with tears in her
eyes before passing the microphone to Yehoshua. “We are so happy to be here
with good news as this situation could have gone very differently,” Yehoshua
said. “There are different ways that God does miracles but he prefers to do
them in the natural way. Even though these responders seem like they are God’s
natural way it is hard for me to imagine that I can touch this guy and that he
is not an angel and that I would burn my hand. These people are God’s
messengers. The doctors at the hospital didn’t recognize the miracle. There was
water in my son’s lungs. My only son. There is no water there anymore. This is
truly a miracle. God used these guys as his arms and we will thank them forever
and ever. We will always thank them.”
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