15-Year-Old Israeli Medic Helps Save Bus Driver’s Life

Ido Edelheit says it was a “very happy and special moment” when he heard the driver was recovering well.

By Diana Bletter, Israel21c

Fifteen-year-old Ido Edelheit, a new volunteer with Magen David Adom – Israel’s national emergency medical service — was riding in an ambulance with two other volunteers during a routine shift when he suddenly saw a bus, filled with children and teenagers, stopped in the middle of an intersection on a busy street in Tel Aviv.

And then Ido noticed the bus driver was clutching his chest in distress.

The ambulance immediately pulled up alongside the bus, and the team determined that the driver was in the throes of an acute cardiac event.

While they waited for a mobile intensive care unit (MICU) to arrive, they attached a cardiac monitor to the bus driver and administered CPR and two shocks from their defibrillator. Nevertheless, he lost consciousness.

As soon as the MICU arrived, paramedic Simha Simanduyev and Senior EMT Moshe Sasi continued resuscitation efforts for 20 minutes, including 11 shocks.

When the bus driver finally regained consciousness, he was transferred to a nearby hospital where he underwent angioplasty to treat a blocked artery in his heart.

Edelheit said he “jumped for joy” when he heard the bus driver was out of danger.

“It was a very happy and special moment,” he said.

Recently, the bus driver and his daughter surprised the team with a visit to the MDA station in Tel Aviv. He presented them with a letter.

“A huge thank you from my heart, yes from the very same heart that beats in my body thanks to you,” the bus driver wrote. “You are the angels sent from heaven on a mission to save my life and you succeeded. You fought for my life and did not give up. I am alive thanks to your help, and for that, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

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