During a routine inspection of a public defibrillator station, MAGEN DAVID ADOM EMT Roi Polkov saved the life of a man who collapsed in Afula, in northern Israel. At 18:25, the Emergency Dispatch Center received a report of a man who had collapsed and lost consciousness. Polkov was checking a nearby public defibrillator at that very moment, rushed to the scene with the device, and delivered a life saving shock. The man was evacuated to the hospital by a Mobile Intensive Care Unit, fully conscious.

“Magen David Adom has placed around 1,500 public defibrillators across the country to save people who suffer cardiac arrest in public spaces. As part of our responsibility for saving lives, we routinely check the stations and devices. The inspection includes checking the cabinet, the ability of MDA’s 101 Dispatch Center to open it remotely and of course that the defib is fully functional.

“About an hour and a half earlier I began my inspection rounds in Migdal HaEmek and Afula, but I never imagined the check would prove itself so quickly. While I was inspecting the cabinet placed at the entrance to an Aroma branch, I received an alert on the MDA app about an emergency call nearby. I was already on the phone with the Dispatch Center and they told me I was only a few buildings away from a man suffering cardiac arrest. I immediately grabbed the defibrillator and ran over. I saw citizens performing CPR on a 37-year-old man, with instructions being given by the Dispatch Center. I connected the defibrillator which analyzed his heart rhythm and delivered a shock. Within seconds he began breathing again and opened his eyes. There is no doubt the defibrillator saved his life.” – Roi Polkov, EMT

The Smart Stand defibrillator, one of 1,500 across Israel, was donated in memory of Roi Avraham Maimon, a paramedic who fell in battle during the Iron Swords War.