Stories From the Streets: New Year’s Anaphylaxis

On the first night of Rosh Hashanah, United Hatzalah volunteers saved the life of a woman who had an anaphylactic reaction. She had been eating honey and pomegranates, neither of which she’d ever reacted to in the past. The incident took place in the Gilo neighborhood of Jerusalem, as families were sitting down to eat the festive meal of the new year. During the meal it is customary to eat numerous special foods, among them honey, apples, pomegranates, and others. 

The woman, in her mid-40s, suffered a severe allergic reaction that developed into anaphylaxis as a result of eating these special holiday foods. The family quickly called for emergency services. 

United Hatzalah volunteer EMTs who lived nearby, including Pnina Hadas and Shimon Arama, left their own meals and rushed to the given address, where they found the woman outside next to a car, presumably trying to get to the hospital. The woman was in severe respiratory distress and barely able to tell the EMTs she was having difficulty breathing. 

“I had just finished setting out our own foods at my home for my family when I received the alert about the emergency,” Hadas recounts. “I quickly ran out of the house, got into my car, and rushed over to the home of the family, who lived a few streets over from my own. I grabbed my medical kit from the car, which included an EpiPen-style device, and rushed over to where the woman was lying on the ground. I arrived in less than three minutes, and Shimon had preceded me by a few seconds.”

Hadas and Arama administered the auto-injection epinephrine device and then continued oxygen therapy.

“It was incredible: The woman went from not being able to breathe one minute to a few seconds later being able to take in a breath, all because of the epinephrine. I know how the device works, but seeing it firsthand was remarkable,” Hadas says. “To save a life right at the beginning of the new year is something that is simply incredible. This is the day that, according to Jewish tradition, God sits in judgment of all mankind and decides whether we are to live this coming year or die. Here I was, on the day of judgment, called upon to help this woman and be a part of her returning to her family and loved ones. There is no greater feeling than that.” 

Just a few minutes after the arrival of Hadas and Arama, the woman was back in in stable condition and waiting for an ambulance to take her to the hospital for further care. 

Raphael Poch is the international media spokesperson for United Hatzalah.