The day after two high school students saved their teacher’s life when she collapsed as she walked into their school building, they came to visit her in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit of Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem.
The 29-year-old pregnant civics teacher, Chen Danzinger, was overwhelmed with emotion as the teens talked about their joy at having been able to save not only her life but also the life of her unborn child. One of them related, “As a citizen, it was my duty to try to save you.”
The two 17-year-olds performed CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) until the Magen David Adom (MDA) ambulance crew arrived, restored Danzinger’s pulse, and raced her to the Hadassah Medical Center’s Trauma Unit.
Dr. Gabby Elbaz-Greener, senior cardiologist at Hadassah, explained, “This was certainly an extraordinary cardiovascular event, which manifested itself as a life-threatening arrhythmia. Without the life-saving treatment of both the students and the MDA staff, Chen would not be here with us.”
Danzinger will have to undergo further treatment and genetic testing in Hadassah’s Cardiogenetic Center, since her brother, who now serves as a rabbi in Mexico, also suffered a heart attack. His was four years ago.