Stories From the Streets: Boy Requires Air Evacuation After Hiking Injury

On a recent Wednesday, a bit before 1 PM, a group of hikers in the Mount Arbel National Park and Nature Reserve near Migdal in Northern Israel called emergency services when a 12-year-old boy from their group was hit on the head by a falling rock. 

United Hatzalah volunteer EMT Meir Hayon was sitting with a friend in town when he got the call from dispatch that alerted him to the emergency. With a quick apology, he left his friend and rushed to the scene. As Hayon was mounting his ambucycle, he heard fellow United Hatzalah volunteer EMT Netanel Azarzar report on the communication device that he was leaving the residential area in Tiberias and also responding to the incident. 

The motorcyclists arrived together at the entrance to the Arbel Reserve 6 mins later. “We were the first responders there,” said Hayon. “We weren’t able to enter with our ambucycles, so we left them by the entrance and trekked down the mountain on foot, a 2½-km hike, to reach the spot where the injured hiker was located. All the while we stayed on the line with the dispatch center to keep them updated as to our progress.”

When the EMTs arrived at the wounded hiker’s location, they immediately stanched the bleeding from the gash on his head. They then proceeded to check his vital signs and perform additional medical tests, as well as bandage other wounds.

“The boy was conscious, but as time passed he slowly started disconnecting and forgetting some things,” Hayon recalled. “As he had suffered a severe head trauma, we suspected he had suffered a concussion and knew he required immediate evacuation to a hospital.” 

Hayon and Azarzar notified United Hatzalah’s dispatch of the incident and asked for an immediate evacuation via helicopter. The dispatch center contacted Unit 669, the Israel Defense Forces’ heliborne search-and-rescue extraction unit, to coordinate a rescue evacuation.

A helicopter arrived within the next few minutes, and the 12-year-old boy was flown to Rambam Health Care in Haifa in mild to moderate condition.

Hayon said in conclusion, “I felt the incredible satisfaction of saving a life. Even though the route was very difficult, both to get down to where the child was and to get back to the motorcycle, the satisfaction of knowing the child would receive the best medical care possible as quickly as possible was worth it.”

Raphael Poch is the international media spokesperson for United Hatzalah.