Bridging divides: Israeli Arab nurse saves the life of Nahariya man

A male nurse at the Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya has saved the life of a resident of the city who collapsed at the entrance to a store in a shopping center in the Druze village of Yarka.

Victor Epstein went shopping with his wife and friends in Yarka over the weekend, and while waiting for his wife outside a store, he suddenly felt dizzy and collapsed.

Amer Awad, the nurse who works in the hospital’s internal medicine department who was fortunately at the shopping center rushed to his side and gave him cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and a cardiac massage. “I was just parking my car to go into the store,” Awad recalled.

“My daughter got out of the car, and suddenly knocked on the window and said: ‘Dad, there is someone here lying on the sidewalk, come help him.’ I saw that he was frothing at the mouth and that he lacked a pulse and was not breathing. While massaging his heart, I asked someone to call Magen David Adom (MDA) to send an ambulance.”

One of the people who gathered around brought a defibrillator from the shopping center that helped Awad to restore the patient's pulse and his breathing. “I gave him an electric shock using the device and continued to massage him. “Two minutes later, I gave him another electric shock, and continued massaging him. Then I saw that his pulse and breathing returned and thank God, he woke up.” The ambulance brought Epstein in moderate condition to the hospital in Nahariya in an intensive care unit, where he underwent cardiac catheterization.

From his bed in the intensive care unit, Epstein said: I came with my wife and friends to go shopping and waited for her outside until she finished, but I suddenly felt very dizzy. I sat down on the sidewalk and since that moment I don’t remember anything else except waking up in an ambulance.”

The nurse visited the man he saved

Awad visited Epstein while he was in the hospital. “I want to thank you for saving my life. We are all brothers, whether Arabs or Jews,” he  told him as he shook his hand. Awad responded: “I don't feel like a hero. I did what I had to do. Fortunately, I had the right knowledge, and I was in the right place at the right time. I am so happy to see you in a good and stable condition. From now on, we are like a family.”

Dr. Or Tsafrir, director of the cardiac intensive care unit, said: “Victor suffered a heart attack, which turned into a cardiac arrest. Amer literally saved his life. I don’t want to think what would have happened if Amer had arrived a few minutes later. Victor is alive now thanks to Amer’s quick and skilled work.”

Tsafrir added the important message that, “Amer underwent an American Heart Association Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support (ACLS) course that emphasizes the importance of continuous, high-quality CPR. Thanks to this, he was extremely knowledgeable and able to help save lives. In addition, the defibrillator that was in the shopping center was also very helpful in saving Victor's life. It is very important that such a defibrillator be in every public place, because you never know when it will be needed.”

The hospital’s deputy director, Dr. Tsvi Sheleg. And nursing Dalya Tedgi, praised Awad for his timely and exceptional professional and dedicated lifesaving efforts.