Inbal Rauchwerger-Dayan and her family have an annual tradition: watching the first sunset of the Jewish new year at a beautiful but isolated beach.
It was a warm evening, so ignoring the rip-tide danger and “No Swimming” signs, some people ventured into the sea. As the sun disappeared and darkness fell, Inbal suddenly heard shouts for a lifeguard.
An EMT with Magen David Adom, Inbal ran to the shore, where she saw hands grasping for the surface amid the surf and noticed the cries for “help” getting increasingly weak. Immediately, she called MDA’s emergency dispatch to report the incident, but she knew because of the desolate location with no roads, it would take awhile for help to arrive.
When four people were dragged out of the water, Inbal drafted three young men to assist. Taking control and giving orders, she instructed the civilians to follow her lead as she started CPR on one of the victims. She ordered others to take the long trek to the road to meet the ambulances and show the EMTs the way down to the beach.
At the same time, Inbal instructed a nearby surfing instructor to go out on his board to check on other swimmers caught on a rock jetty. One at a time he brought two more victims to shore.
In the end, six people went into the sea that evening. Five of them will get to see another sunset, thanks to Inbal and the caring civilians who helped her save them.
This season, Magen David Adom responded to 248 such incidents, treating and saving as many as 208 of them. But no one but Inbal had to save five people by herself.
