A senior volunteer from United Hatzalah was bitten by a snake on Friday evening while trying to provide assistance to a person severely injured in a tractor accident at Ariel Sharon Park.
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As a result of the snakebite, the volunteer himself was seriously injured and was evacuated by Magen David Adom (MDA) to Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer, while unconscious and sedated.
Paramedic Maya Shachaf from MDA recounted: "We received a report about the Quad ATV that flipped over in a depth of about 10 meters. Since there was no access for an ambulance, we arrived at the scene using a 4x4 vehicle from MDA, which was also dispatched to the event with all the necessary medical equipment we have in the mobile unit. The injured person was lying near the ranger and suffered wounds to the head and abdomen. We provided initial medical treatment, including pain relievers, and stabilized him on a stretcher in order to rescue him.
"During the rescue operation, a man who arrived at the scene and assisted us told me that he felt an animal bite his leg and that he was feeling unwell. He began to develop life-threatening allergic symptoms, and I realized that he was probably bitten by some kind of animal. I reported to the MDA dispatch center in order to dispatch an additional intensive care team to the scene, and I began life-saving treatment, which included medications to stabilize his condition, sedation, and artificial respiration. The firefighting forces that arrived at the scene assisted us in extricating the man who was bitten and transferred both injured individuals to the ambulance that was waiting nearby. They were taken to the hospital in serious and stable condition."
The report of the accident itself was received at the MDA center at 18:33, stating that a Ranger tractor with four passengers had overturned into a wadi in the park. MDA paramedics and EMTs who arrived at the scene using 4x4 vehicles provided medical treatment to a 25-year-old young man who was injured in the Ranger's rollover, as well as to the bitten volunteer.
In the photo from the scene, we see the bitten volunteer being extracted from the wadi on a stretcher. The young injured person from the tractor is also being transferred to Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer. Initially, it was reported that his condition was moderate, but later it was upgraded to serious. The other three passengers were not injured.