100-year-old woman suffers sudden cardiac arrest in Holon, saved by United Hatzalah volunteers

It seems that one’s pulse can be restarted even in a centenarian. On Sunday morning, a 100-year-old woman suffered a sudden cardiac arrest in her home on Ilona Feher Street in Holon.

Her caregiver came to check on her, and when she entered the woman’s room she found her lying on the floor unconscious, not breathing, and without a pulse. The caregiver immediately called emergency medical services for help and alerted the family.

Chen Bador, a United Hatzalah (UH) volunteer and emergency medical technician (EMT) who lives nearby was at home when his proximity alert went off alerting him about the emergency. Bador immediately left his house, got onto his ambucycle, and drove to the woman’s home, arriving less than three minutes later.

Bador was the first responder at the scene along with another EMT. When the two got into the apartment, they immediately started chest compressions along with assisted ventilation, while attaching a defibrillator.

A few minutes afterward, two ambulances arrived, one of which was a mobile intensive care unit arrived. Paramedics began providing the woman with medications and advanced cardiopulmonary resuscitation procedures (CPR).  

The woman’s daughter was hysterical and very overwhelmed. Bador, who is also a UH psychotrauma and crisis response unit (PCRU) volunteer, upon seeing enough other responders providing CPR, went to provide psychological first aid to the daughter.

Bador managed to psychologically stabilize the daughter while grounding her in the moment. After talking with Bador, the daughter was able to cope with the situation at hand and was subsequently able to assist the medical team by providing them with the medical background information they needed for her mother.  

Paramedics managed to revive the centenarian

After a few more rounds of chest compressions, the woman’s pulse returned, much to the relief of the woman’s family and the combined emergency medical services personnel. The woman was then transported to a nearby hospital to continue her care. 

Reflecting on the incident, the UH volunteer recounted: “The reason why I became an EMT volunteer is to help people by doing acts of lovingkindness for those around me. Whoever is in need of help, I help. It's a wonderful feeling to help the people in need and fulfill the commandment of saving someone’s life.’’