United Hatzalah volunteer Yisrael Shavit saved a young girl in Hadera from choking on Sunday evening. After arriving in less than a minute at the scene of the incident, Shavit managed to single-handedly treat and rescue an infant from what could have been her death.

Shavit described the dramatic story. “I was davening Mincha at shul and I received an alert on my radio. The alert said that a young toddler, about six-months-old was choking right near my location. I raced to my ambucycle and jumped on and rushed to the address. I saw a group of people standing around two parents who were holding their child in front of them. The father was slapping an infant girl on the back. I asked to take the child. She was making choking noises which meant that her airway was partially blocked. She had started to turn blue.

“I looked inside her mouth and saw a small edge of what looked to be a bit of plastic stuck in her trachea. When I slapped her back, a bit more popped up. I stuck my finger in her mouth and after a few tries, was able to grab hold of and remove the plastic. It was a wrapper from an ice pop. Once the blockage was removed the child once again began crying.

“The girl’s parents were so thankful for my quick arrival and successful assistance that they kissed me on the forehead in the middle of the street just as other EMS volunteers began arriving.

“It was a few minutes before the ambulance came, they had a very healthy and stable patient who was taken to the hospital for follow-up care.

“I’ve been at choking calls before but usually, you arrive after the person has choked and you need to do CPR. This is the first time I was able to arrive while it was still happening. I am happy that I was able to help and that I was a messenger of salvation in this instance. This is why I joined United Hatzalah. It is the reason the organization exists and why all of the volunteers do what we do.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem/Photo Credit: United Hatzalah)