On Monday night, after an incredibly long day, United Hatzalah volunteer EMT Bentzi Goldberg arrived home and was about to relax, when his radio alerted him to a woman giving birth two blocks away. He turned around raced to the address in time to help the woman deliver her baby girl.

Goldberg, who teaches in a Talmud Torah in Beitar Illit is a resident of Beit Shemesh where the birth took place. In the afternoons he volunteers in Hadassah Ein Kerem’s emergency room (ER) as part of United Hatzalah’s emergency room volunteering project which sees EMTs spend 8 hours shifts assisting ER staff and alleviating waiting times for patients. The EMTs perform basic tasks and provide care for urgent patients, allowing the nursing staff to provide extra care for serious and critical patients.

“Just as I was walking in the door, my radio alerted to the medical emergency and I drove the two streets over to the woman’s house. I was able to assist her in the delivery and received the baby girl who, thankfully, was born without too many complications,” said Goldberg.

Goldberg is married with three daughters of his own and is no stranger to assisting in a childbirth as he has done many of them in the past.

“I feel an incredible amount of satisfaction in volunteering with UH. I rush out to all the calls where I am needed to help others who need help, that alone is enough of a reward. I live in an area where ambulances take at least 7-8 minutes to arrive at the earliest, so my quick arrival makes a big difference to the patients,” Goldberg added.

From Goldberg’s perspective, giving up his time to help others is not a sacrifice he makes by himself, but rather his entire family supports him and sacrifices with him to help others. “When I respond to a call I have to leave whatever I am in the middle of in order to do so. This can take a lot of patience and assistance on behalf of my family who have often had to sit at meals and wait or even finish a meal without me while I rush out to help others. The people from my community and my neighbors have gotten to know that I am an EMT and often come to our house on Shabbat for help. My family has already gotten used to it and learned to help where they can,” Goldberg said proudly.

Goldberg said that he couldn’t do what he does, or save the people he saves without the support of the organization behind him. “Behind all of the work that we as volunteers to there is an amazing organization that supports us and listens to us when we have to talk to someone or need help with something. Whether it is the head of our chapter David Leff, or the head of the Hospital volunteering project Chani Levanon, and even the CEO Moshe Teitelbaum and the President Eli Beer everyone is approachable and helpful to all of the volunteers in supporting us to go out and save lives every day.”

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)