On Monday morning volunteer emergency medical services (EMS) first responders from United Hatzalah responded to an incident involving an injured person who was involved in a bicycle accident. The incident took place on Hayetzira street in Ramat Gan, and the EMT first responders found a woman who was badly injured, conscious and unresponsive to verbal communication or stimuli. While attempting to ascertain exactly what her injuries were the EMTs were unable to gather information from the woman as she refused to respond to verbal communication.

Moshe Mizrachi, an EMT who responded to the scene noticed that the woman was wearing a hearing device. He began speaking to her in sign language and she immediately responded. “Do you know who I am?” he asked. “She responded in the affirmative stating that she knew him as he was friends with Nechama Lobel, the Deaf EMT who volunteers with United Hatzalah, and the only Deaf EMT in the country.

Moshe immediately contacted Nechama via a video call and had her calm the woman down and assess the situation. Based upon the conversation, and the information relayed from Nechama, the EMTs and paramedics on the scene were able to properly treat the woman for her injuries, which were severe, before transporting her to the hospital. The woman was transported and her status is severely injured.

Nechama, at the behest of the organization and paramedic on the scene, then video called the family of the woman and let them know that their loved one had been in an accident and was treated on scene. She also gave them the information of the hospital to which their loved one was being transported and helped reassure the family.

Moshe said after the event, “Nechama really saved the day today. Having her available to help speak to the patient today gave her a sense of calm and allowed us to accurately treat her for her injuries. In the world of EMS every moment is crucial and the more we know about what ails the patient the faster we can treat her. Nechama saved us precious minutes today and helped us save this woman’s life. Having someone who can speak the language of the patient, especially sign language which is spoken by an entire community in Israel is invaluable.”

Moshe himself learned basic sign language from Nechama through his friendship with her and hopes to continue learning the language more fully so that he too will be able to communicate with members of the deaf and hearing impaired communities.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)