Public Defibrillator Helps Save Passenger at Tel Aviv Hagana Station

A man who collapsed and lost consciousness Thursday evening at Tel Aviv Hagana railway station was saved after station staff performed CPR and used a public defibrillator installed at the site. MDA received a late-evening report about the passenger, apparently for medical reasons, and a dispatcher guided shift manager Israel Doron Avital and railway inspector Guy Kadush by phone through resuscitation steps until paramedics arrived.

Avital fetched the station’s defibrillator, attached it to the patient and followed its voice instructions. After the device analyzed the heart rhythm, it delivered a shock that restored the man’s pulse. An MDA intensive care ambulance team then continued treatment and evacuated him to Ichilov Hospital in full consciousness.

MDA medic Mira Bukai said the quick response of the station workers was a crucial part of the rescue chain. Avital said he did not expect to save a life when he came to work, adding that seeing the passenger leave conscious was, for him, better than winning the lottery.