Stories From the Streets: Right Before My Eyes

At around 10 PM on a recent Wednesday night, a young man riding an electric scooter was involved in a crash with a car at a busy intersection in Ashdod. 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. Fridman had stopped at the same intersection for a moment for pedestrians in a crosswalk when the accident occurred. “I heard a long and loud honk from a car and the screeching sound of brakes,” he says. “I turned to see where it was coming from and then heard a loud boom and saw a person flying across the road.”

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

During the initial examination, Fridman found that the man was unconscious with no pulse and was not breathing. Another citizen stopped to help, Fridman 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. Fridman instructed the man to call emergency services for help as he initiated CPR. 

Fridman performed compressions by himself for a minute and a half until additional United Hatzalah EMTs arrived. 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’d sustained in the crash. With the arrival of an intensive care ambulance a few minutes later, the patient was evacuated to Assuta Hospital in a state of multisystem trauma and critical condition.

Fridman says, “I saw the accident happen right before my eyes. It is a miracle 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 the patient’s 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. [They] saved the patient’s life with the treatment [they] provided him in the field.” 

Fridman added, “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!”

Fridman 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 involved in Operation Orange Wings, which provided humanitarian aid and medical care to Ukrainian refugees in Moldova and Ukraine and brought back nearly 3000 Ukrainian refugees to Israel. Fridman was a team leader during the mission and himself assisted 160 Ukrainian refugees in their return to Israel.

Raphael Poch is the international media spokesperson for United Hatzalah.