Cardiac Arrest at an MDA Station
When Sami Hussein (59) started to feel unwell, he went to his nearby MDA Station in Deir Hanna. He was met by MDA EMT Hosni Dalashe. Sami complained of chest pain, and the MDA team started performing some tests, including an ECG and providing medical treatment. They informed MDA's 101 emergency dispatch center that they needed a mobile intensive care unit (MICU) in order to continue treatment and transport to hospital. Hosni and his team were helping Sami onto the stretcher when he suddenly collapsed in cardiac arrest.
MDA EMT Hosni immediately began CPR, and updated the dispatch center about Sami's deterioration. After several minutes of CPR and 4 shocks from the defibrillator, with Sami's family standing around witnessing the event, Sami's heart suddenly started to beat again. The team continued treatment, along with the paramedics on the MICU, who then conveyed him to cardiac intensive unit in Poriya Hospital in Tiberius.
Sami was discharged from hospital last week, and returned to the MDA station, but this time in order to thank the MDA teams who saved his life.
MDA EMT Hosni Dalashe: "When Sami walked into the station we could see that his condition was serious. He complained of pain in his chest and arm, so we sat him down and started to treat him, including providing him with aspirin and attaching an ECG. We moved Sami to the ambulance stretcher in order to start heading towards the MICU, but then he collapsed. We immediately moved him to the floor, started CPR and connected him to the defibrillator which gave him shocks. As soon as we saw him starting to wake up we realized that we had saved his life. Saving lives is our job - it's what we are here for, for Sami and all the other residents."
Sami Hussein: "I remember feeling unwell, reaching the MDA station and sitting on a couch. I don't remember the actual incident and everything else that happened, but my family told me that the MDA team fought for my life. I would like to say thank you to everyone who helped me, to the MDA team at the station, the MICU paramedics who conveyed me to hospital, to the hospitals, the doctors, everyone. To come back today to the MDA station in Deir Hanna to hug Hosni and the volunteers is unbelievable. They saved my life."
