By EMS1 Staff
JERUSALEM — A United Hatzalah paramedic saved someone who was in a vehicle crash after her own car broke down.
United Hatzalah reported that Revital Curiel had just finished filming instructional videos for new EMS providers when she couldn’t get her car to start.
Curiel tried for over 30 minutes to fix the remote required to start her engine before going to a nearby electronic store for help. An employee repaired it for her, and when Curiel asked how much she owed, the employee said, “You volunteer with United Hatzalah. Instead of paying us, go save someone’s life.”
Curiel came upon the scene of a recent crash on her way home. The driver of the car was rapidly losing consciousness after suffering multiple injuries, so she began treating him.
“Had it not been for my timely arrival, and being a paramedic which enabled me to provide the injured driver with the medical care necessary to stabilize him, his situation would have deteriorated rapidly. It was a matter of me being in the right place at the right time,” Curiel said.
EMS providers who arrived on the scene told Curiel that it would have been a very difficult transport for them if she had not intervened.
“It would seem that I needed to have the car trouble I had in order to be there to save this driver’s life,” Curiel said. “I guess even when things are bad, and the stresses of life get to you, one always has to keep in the back of their mind that maybe it is for a good reason. Today it certainly was, because of the car trouble I had, I saved a man’s life.”