United Hatzalah volunteer Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) Muhammad Aliyan was preparing to go to prayers in the Beit Safafa neighborhood of Jerusalem on Friday when an application on his phone alerted him to a medical emergency a few streets away. Instead of attending weekly prayers as usual, he responded to the call, and arrived at the address indicated. A 60-year-old man had suffered a cardiac arrest and collapsed on his living room floor. Worried family members had called emergency services for help.
Arriving at the scene within two minutes, Aliyan reportedly immediately began to perform CPR on the man, alongside another United Hatzalah volunteer, Yechiel Mayburg, who was also at the scene.
The team continued their efforts, which included medications and defibrillator use, and after a few minutes and multiple shocks to the heart, the man’s pulse came back, but then disappeared again."After the third shock was administered, the man began to resist compressions, a sign that he was coming back to life,” Aliyan recalled.
He noted that the success of the resuscitation effort was thanks to the combined efforts of all the people involved.“We worked together as a team and that made a huge difference in saving this man’s life," he said. "His pulse kept coming back and then fading again. This isn’t all that unusual, but it takes a dedicated team working together to save a life in these circumstances. Everyone has to chip in and help – and I am happy that we did because the man is still alive today.”
Aliyan, who works as a physician's assistant in Shaare Zedek Hospital and as an EMT vaccinator against coronavirus in east Jerusalem, has made an impact that will last far beyond Friday afternoon. On Sunday morning, while he was taking care of some errands nearby, he met the son of the man who he saved on Friday. “The man’s son came up to me and thanked me profusely for our efforts in saving his father. It is a great feeling to know that I have helped and that I have made a difference in the lives of this man and his family.”