Giving Birth on the Road
Moti Fisher, an MDA EMT ambulance driver from Modi'in Illit, was called on Wednesday last week to evacuate a woman to the hospital. On their way to the delivery room, while arriving at the Ofer checkpoint near Givat Ze’ev, police forces signaled the ambulance to stop at the side of the road. The reason was another mother, about 30 years old from Modi'in-Maccabim-Reut, with frequent contractions, in a car on the side of the road.
After a quick examination, it was determined that the first woman was not yet in active childbirth and moved from the ambulance bed to the chair next to make room for the other woman who was in more advanced stages of childbirth. Fisher began to evacuate both mothers to the hospital in Jerusalem but after a few minutes, EMT Eli Burshtain who was tending to the women while Fisher drove, told him to stop so they could deliver the baby.
Moti recalls the double joyful surprise: “I went out for a routine call to evacuate a woman in labor to the hospital and at the entrance to the checkpoint they cleared the right lane for me. I thought they wanted to let me through easily but they flagged me down and waved for help. It was extrodinary. I had one woman in labor in the ambulance and another in the middle of calling for an ambulance and on the phone with MDA’s 101 Emergency Call Center when I pulled up. The first woman happily moved aside when she realized the unique situation we were in. Within a few moments, we not only had two laboring mothers, but one of them gave birth and we now had a newborn as well. I am glad that the story ended with bringing new life into the world and happiness to the families.”
