About Refael Barkatz

Refael is the director of a child-development center, a father of 3 and resident of Elad.  His desire to learn the art of lifesaving began when a man collapsed in the street, right before his eyes.  Refael had no idea what to do, and the long minutes until medical personnel arrived was precious time lost for the dangerously ill individual.  Refael decided that day, that is was time for him to learn medical emergency response.  He enrolled in an EMT course and has been volunteering with United Hatzalah for the past five years.

Sometime after Rafael had begun to volunteer, his appreciation of emergency first responders rocketed.  His 3 year-old son had come home from school one day licking a lollipop.  In the time honored tradition of little children, the boy bit the candy off the stick. He then inadvertently swallowed it, began to choke and Refael’s panicked wife called United Hatzalah.  Refael was not in the vicinity but other volunteers rapidly arrived and managed to dislodge the obstructing piece of candy, thus saving his child’s life.

Later on, Refael himself save someone else’s  3 year-old son when the boy fell off a very high slide in a local playground.  The boy landed hard on the ground below, losing consciousness, and bleeding from the head.  The frantic mother alerted United Hatzalah and Refael raced to the scene. The experienced medic immediately secured the semi-conscious boy’s airway, administered oxygen, bandaged his head wound and took vital signs.  Refael suspected the boy had internal injuries and he carefully immobilized the child and monitored his condition until the ambulance arrived.  The thorough medic briefed the crew on the boy’s condition before he was swiftly evacuated to the nearest trauma center.  Refael’s rapid response and proficient care were crucial for this child’s survival and recovery process.