The call for a “man who fell down stairs” came in at 18:40 on Wednesday 27 Menachem Av 5772. Ichud Hatzalah EMTs responded as usual, heading to the Ramot neighborhood of Jerusalem.

EMT Dvir Adani, a member of Ichud’s ‘motorcycle medics’ unit arrived on the scene, entering the apartment building and immediately seeing an open door — believing this was the location of the call. He entered the living room and saw an adult holding an infant in her arms along with a phone as she shouted “help me, my baby is choking”.

“Something did not make sense” Adani told himself. “We were summoned to a call for someone who fell down some stairs” he thought, as the women shouted “you got here before I had a chance to call”. He immediately realized this was an urgent situation, as was apparent by the mother’s anxiety and pained gaze.

The women explained she heard a commotion outside her apartment and went to open the door to see what was going on. At about the same time her child crawled out towards her, apparently choking on a foreign body that blocked her airway.

In the seconds that passed Adani understood B’chasdei Hashem he ‘happened’ to enter this apartment to address the life-threatening situation and along with additional EMTs who arrived they addressed the partially obstructed airway. They succeeded in removing the obstruction and after a few breaths of artificial respiration the child returned to a fully alert and conscious state. She was referred to the local Kupat Cholim HMO clinic for a physician’s follow-up exam.

As far as the man who fell down a number of stairs, other EMTs who arrived treated him. He had facial soft tissue injuries and bruising and refused transport to a hospital.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)