I am about to go and work a MADA shift, but I wanted to just check in and write a short post about the past couple days. I went to Kibbutz Ein Tzurim over Shabbat. The Kibbutz is the home of the other half of Nativ for the second semester. It is a very nice Kibbutz and the people are very friendly. However, it is not for me. I am not a Kibbutznick at all and I am very happy that I am living in Yerucham and have the opportunity to volunteer and have an active role in the community. Nevertheless, I am glad that I had the chance to visit the Kibbutz and see what it was like.
I headed back to Yerucham after Shabbat and worked an easy graveyard shift for MADA. When I got there on Saturday night, they told me that they were in need of an extra set of hands on Sunday from 9am to 5pm working in Dimona with one of the Yerucham drivers. They volunteered me and I accepted the invitation. So on Sunday morning after I finished the first shift, I went home and prayed and ate something and then met the driver who I was going to be working with, Tzachi, and we hitchhiked to Dimona. We got to the Dimona station, which is much bigger then Yeruchams, and we just relaxed and got settled. Tzachi let me do a complete check of the ambulances supplies and then we gave the rig a bath. We didn't actually get a call til about 10:30. The first call was a woman who was having heart pains and had elevated blood pressure. We got her to the hospital and all settled and we headed back to Dimona.
Our next and last call was a car accident around 2:30ish. A mid 70 year old man was driving and most likely had a minor heart attack and crashed into a barrier on the side of the rode. Tzachi and I were the first ones on the scene. I was excited for the real action but yet nervous at the same time. We got our of the ambulance and ran to the scene. We evaluated the man and determined that he wasn't going to be able to get out of the car by himself. I ran to grab a neck brace and the backboard. Tzachi braced his neck and I set up for the back boarding. We got him onto the backboard with some help of the police. After that we lifted him onto the bed and rushed him into our ambulance. We gave him oxygen but he said he didn't want any. We immediately called for a backup ambulance that has more equipment and more staff as well as drugs. The other ambulance came and we transported him from ours to the other.
After that Tzachi and I headed back to the station about 2 minutes away. We weren't even back in the station for 15 minutes before we get another call. Tzachi and I sprint out the door and race out of the station. We got called back to the original scene. Our patient's that was stable when we left was crashing and they had started CPR. Tzachi and I once again sprint as fast as we can to the other ambulance. Tzachi goes inside to assist the other 2 medics and volunteer that were already in there. I stayed out side and waited til I was called. I didn't expect to be called into the ambulance to work but they called me in about five minutes later. I went in and they told me to start compressions. I grabbed a hold of the cardio-pump and started doing compressions as fast and strong as I could per the instructions of the head medic. I did compressions for about 7 minutes without stopping and my arms and back were killing me since I was leaning over the patient with unstable balance. I then switched to pushing the AMBU bag(the bag that is attached to the tube in the throat to help the patient breath). AFter squeezing every 5 seconds for about 10 minutes, I then switched and went back to doing compressions. The patient had to be shocked about 4 times and the finally got a very weak pulse and heart beat after about 45 minutes of CPR. The head medic and driver of the other ambulance decided they would make a run for it to the hospital in Beer Sheva, about a 25 minute drive away. Tzachi and I quickly got out of their ambulance and headed back to ours and headed back to the station. That was all we could do, it was now up to the other medics and the hospital to do the rest. Tzachi and I returned back to the station to rest and fill out the paper work. We ended our shift around 5 and got a ride back to Yerucham and Tzachi took me home. While we were heading back to my apartment Tzachi got a call from the medics from Dimona that our patient had passed away at the hospital.
It was a first of many things for me. It was the first time that I was in an emergency situation and had to act quickly but smartly. I had to be able to follow orders that were give very quickly and my actions had to be instant and precise. I was happy that I got to take part in such a difficult task and that I was involved in it all. It is scary work to be a medic and work under the pressure of the patient, the family screaming outside the ambulance, and the overall surroundings of the situation. I feel accomplished and feel that my training payed off. It is sad to know that he didn't end up making it and the reality check of that is the worst part. I felt like I was in an episode of ER or Chicago Hope and the doctors do all the can to say a patient, but in the end the opposite result takes place.
It is hard work, but someone has to do it...
David
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