Must-Read for Every Parent: How Fast Action Saved a 5-Year-Old Girl Choking on Candy
"I’ve performed CPR countless times over my 45 years with MDA, but this is one response I will never, ever forget."
It began as an ordinary Saturday morning in Tzur Hadassah. Five-year-old Yael Etrog had joined her father, Omer, for Shabbat morning prayers at their local synagogue. Sitting in the sanctuary, Yael was sucking on a piece of candy when she suddenly began to cough violently.
Omer rushed to help his daughter, realizing with sudden dread that the candy was completely blocking her airway. As panic set in, congregants immediately dialed MDA’s National Emergency Dispatch Center.
MDA dispatches scrambled rapid-response first responders and a Mobile Intensive Care Unit (MICU) to the scene. But Yael’s condition was deteriorating by the second. Struggling for air, her lips and face began turning blue.
Eyal Melamed, a veteran MDA EMT attending the service, sprang into action. He immediately initiated the Heimlich maneuver, applying firm abdominal thrusts to dislodge the obstruction.
"Unfortunately, the Heimlich wasn't working, and Yael collapsed," Eyal recalled. "Her heart stopped beating, and I immediately started CPR. I’ve been volunteering with Magen David Adom for 45 years, but looking down at that little girl, I knew everything was on the line."
Just moments later, MDA rapid-response team members, paramedic Elad Shamir and senior EMT Chaim Sharabi, arrived on scene and joined the resuscitation efforts. Using specialized medical equipment, they were able to reach into Yael’s throat and extract the candy blocking her airway.
For long, grueling minutes that felt like an eternity, the MDA crew fought to bring the young girl back. Finally, her pulse returned. They stabilized Yael and rushed her to the hospital in critical condition aboard a Mobile Intensive Care Unit (MICU).
Reflecting on the dramatic save, MDA Paramedic Elad Shamir emphasized: "It is critical to keep a close eye on young children while they are eating, especially when they are moving around. Choking is a medical emergency where every single second counts. In this case, the rapid action taken from the moment her father noticed the distress is what saved Yael’s life."
After making a full recovery and being discharged from the hospital, Yael visited MDA's Jerusalem station to meet the team that saved her. During a special tour of the station, the crew presented her with her very own souvenir MDA paramedic vest and cap.
