World Builder

Right Before My Eyes

by raphael Poch

Dor at the Ukrainian border in March Dor, in a black jacket and jeans, standing in the middle of the scene just after the patient was transported

On a recent Wednesday, at around 10:00 p.m., a young man riding an electric scooter was involved in a crash with a car that took place at the busy intersection of Bnei Brith Boulevard and Palmach Street in Tel Aviv. The crash left the 19-year-old scooter rider critically injured and unconscious on the street.

United Hatzalah volunteer EMT Dor Fridman was a witness to the accident. He was driving home on his ambucycle when it happened. Dor had stopped at the same intersection for a moment to give the right of way to pedestrians at the crosswalk when the accident occurred.

“I heard a long and loud honk from a car and the screeching sound of a brake,” he recalled. “I turned to see where it was coming from and then heard a loud boom and saw a person flying across the road.”

Dor immediately turned on his emergency lights and siren and cautiously crossed the intersection to where the wounded man had landed. Dor saw him sprawled out on the ground after the hit.

During the initial examination, Dor found that he was unconscious, with no pulse, and was not breathing. With the help of another citizen who stopped his car to help, Dor explained to him what to do, and together they carefully turned the wounded man on his back. The EMT checked once more for a pulse and breathing and found none. Dor instructed the man to call emergency services for help as he initiated CPR.

Dor started performing the compressions by himself for a minute and a half until additional United Hatzalah EMTs arrived at the scene to help. They attached a defibrillator and prepared an oxygen tank to provide assisted breathing.

After about 3-4 minutes of compressions, the boy’s pulse returned. The EMTs continued to ventilate in hopes of restoring his breathing as well. Once the most crucial components of the resuscitation were completed, the EMTs moved on to treating the patient’s wounds and stemming the bleeding from the gashes he had sustained during the crash. With the arrival of an intensive care ambulance a few minutes later, the patient was evacuated to the Assuta Hospital, in a state of multisystem trauma and in critical condition.

Dor said, “I saw the accident happen right before my eyes. It is a miracle that I was at the right place at the right time. I was privileged to immediately provide the initial treatment that actually saved his life.”

After treatment in Assuta, the manager of the emergency room applauded the EMTs for their work and said, “All the work was done before the young man arrived. You saved the patient’s life with the treatment you provided him on the field.”

Dor adds, “I was truly honored to receive the message from the manager of the emergency room. It was very moving for me to be able to help save this man’s life. What an honor!”

Dor is a United Hatzalah volunteer EMT who lives in Ashdod and works in the field of pharmaceuticals preparing medications for oncology patients. He was one of the more than 200 volunteers from the organization who was involved in Operation Orange Wings, which provided humanitarian aid and medical care to Ukrainian refugees in Moldova and Ukraine and brought back nearly 3,000 Ukrainian refugees to Israel. Dor himself was one of the team leaders during the mission and himself assisted 160 Ukrainian refugees in their return to Israel.