A quick-thinking Hatzolah of Central Jersey volunteer and a Lakewood ob/gyn coordinated a lifesaving intervention thousands of miles away when a pregnant woman went into premature labor aboard an El Al flight crossing the Atlantic.
Levi Rubin (L-131), a Hatzolah of Central Jersey EMT from Jackson, was aboard El Al flight LY25 from Israel to Newark on Wednesday when a passenger began experiencing contractions mid-flight. Recognizing the urgency, Rubin conducted an initial assessment and made a critical decision: to use the aircraft’s wifi to connect with Dr. Clara Surowitz (MD-9), who also serves on Hatzolah of Central Jersey.
Dr. Surowitz, who leads Tru Women’s Health in Lakewood and delivers babies at Jersey Shore University Medical Center, found herself in an extraordinary situation. The pilot had only minutes to decide whether to divert the aircraft—a window that would close once the plane traveled too far over the Atlantic to reach land without substantial delay.
Speaking directly with the laboring woman, she evaluated her symptoms and made the call: the pilot needed to divert immediately to the nearest airport.
The pilot acted without hesitation, altering course to Rome.
An ambulance and medical team were standing by on the tarmac when the aircraft landed. The woman delivered a healthy baby girl two hours later – five weeks earlier than expected.
Both mother and newborn are doing well.
While Dr. Surowitz and Rubin handled the medical crisis, the family’s needs extended beyond the hospital. The expectant father found himself stranded in an unfamiliar city with luggage bound for New York and his wife being treated in a hospital 45 minutes from Rome’s Jewish community.
Someone connected him with Chabad-Lubavitch in Rome, where co-director Chani Hazan and her husband, Rabbi Shalom Hazan, mobilized the community within hours to provide food, baby clothes, and accommodations.
Wow!! Mi Ke’Amcha Yisrael!!