For 2-year-old Elchanan of Yerushalayim and his parents, this Sukkos will be an unforgettable one as he was successfully resuscitated after drowning in a pool.

On last Thursday, the first day of Sukkos, Elchanan drowned in the pool in his home. His parents found his pulseless body in the water and ran to dial 101, to phone Magen David Adom.

Dispatcher Inbal Berman took the call, and she immediately began giving the parents instructions as what to do until the first ambulance team arrives. Simultaneously, she dispatched on-call personnel in the neighborhood along with a paramedic and basic life support ambulance. The first team, comprised of volunteers from United Hatzalah and MDA was at the home in under two minutes Baruch Hashem and they took over life-saving measures – CPR. An ambulance from the Ayalon district and paramedic unit arrived and they continued resuscitation with advanced life support measures while transporting the child to Hadassah Mt. Scopus Hospital.

The family was mispallel as they tried to remain hopeful as their son was admitted and remains in a comatose state. On motzei Shabbos Chol Hamoed the good news came, that Elchanan opened his eyes and regained consciousness and he did not show any neurological deficits. In fact, hospital officials reported “We found him running around the ward”.

MDA praised the quick actions of the parents, who did not hesitate in dialing 101, and the fact that on-call personnel Yosef Roey, Mendy Greenwald, Yoel Kalfafier and Nachman Revivo all arrived in a timely fashion as did the ambulance that happened to be in the area from the Ayalon District, driven by EMT Zevulun Kitai. Paramedic Anna Shemen worked with veteran EMT Tzuri Myers and with the team effort and Siyata Dishmaya, Elchanan is back and functioning as he did before the drowning.

On Sunday Chol Hamoed Sukkos, little Elchanan was visited by the life savers, who wanted to see for themselves. The parents thanked each and every one of them!

Elchanan was released from Hadassah on Monday, Chol Hamoed Sukkos to continue enjoying Yomtov with his family.

Following his release on Monday, Elchanan, together with his parents were honored at United Hatzalah’s annual concert. There they met with the United Hatzalah volunteers who were first to arrive at the scene and take over the CPR. Meir Framowitz who was the first responder on scene and was handed Elchanan when he was blue and pulseless, said that “seeing Elchanan laugh, play and roll around on stage as if nothing had happened four days prior was simply miraculous. We aren’t looking for credit, but if there is credit to give it goes to this organization that 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. Adam Ballin, a volunteer medical and well as psychotrauma unit responder accompanied the family to the hospital and waited with them for over 4 hours until Elchanan’s situation stabilized. “I didn’t want to tell the parents that essentially they had a clinically dead baby, but with the early intervention of the United Hatzalah volunteers who responded in under 2 minutes and the continued CPR attempts by the gathered teams of EMS responders and the team in the hospital 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.”

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem/Photo Credit: MDA spokesman)