During a routine inspection of a public defibrillator station, MDA EMT Roi Polkov saved the life of a man who collapsed nearby.
One recent evening, Magen David Adom (MDA)’s emergency dispatch center received a call about a man who had collapsed and lost consciousness in Afula in northern Israel.
While EMT Roi Polkov was inspecting the functionality a public defibrillator nearby, he got an alert from MDA and dashed to the scene with the device he had just tested. When Polkov arrived, he found a group of people performing CPR on the man, following instructions from MDA over the phone. Polkov connected the defibrillator which analyzed the man’s heart rhythm, and delivered a lifesaving shock.
“Within seconds he began breathing again and opened his eyes,” recalled Polkov. “There is no doubt the defibrillator saved his life.”
The 37-year-old patient was then transported to the hospital by an MDA Mobile Intensive Care Unit, fully conscious.
The defibrillator used by Polokov was donated in memory of Roi Avraham Maimon, an MDA volunteer paramedic who fell in battle in Gaza during the recent war.
MDA has placed around 1,900 defibrillators across Israel to save people who suffer cardiac arrest in public spaces. “As part of our responsibility for saving lives, we routinely check the defibrillator stations and devices,” noted Polkov. “The inspection includes checking the cabinet, the ability of MDA’s dispatch center to open it remotely, and of course, that the defibrillator is fully functional.”
