Hatzalah
The original Hatzalah emergency medical services (EMS) was founded in Williamsburg, a neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, by Hershel Weber in the late 1960s.
The idea spread to other Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods in the New York City area, and eventually to other regions, countries, and continents.
[5][6] Chevra Hatzalah in New York has more than a thousand volunteer emergency medical technicians (EMTs) and paramedics who answer more than 70,000 calls each year with private vehicles and a fleet of more than 90 ambulances.
[7] Hatzalah organizations now function in Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Israel, Mexico, Panama,[8] Russia,[9] South Africa, Switzerland, United Kingdom,[10] Ukraine, and in 10 U.S. states: California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Texas.
While United Hatzalah is inarguably the larger of the two organizations, in the past their volunteers were limited to direct response on-scene care, versus Tzevet Hatzalah volunteers, which are additionally licensed and authorized to provide emergency transport utilizing Magen David Adom ambulances.
Currently United Hatzalah has a wide deployment of active ambulances and several Mobiles Intensive Care Units (always staffed by a specialist doctor and a paramedic) distributed in the greatest cities of Israel, which allows them to transport sick and injured to the nearest suitable medical center, for free.
[11] Each directly dispatched Hatzolah volunteer has a full medical technician "jump kit" in their car, with oxygen, trauma, and appropriate pharmaceutical supplies.
Paramedic (EMT-P) members carry more extensive equipment and supplies, including EKG, IV, injection, intubation, and other pharmaceuticals.
It combines dispatch and some other functions for over a dozen neighborhood organizations, including[17] Williamsburg,[3] Flatbush, Borough Park, Canarsie, Crown Heights, Lower East Side, Upper West Side, Midtown, Washington Heights, Queens, Rockaways & Nassau County, Seagate, Catskills, Staten Island, Riverdale, and others.
[citation needed] In England, all Hatzalah chapters are CQC-registered, and they have a memorandum of understanding with local police forces with regards to use of blue lights and sirens, if certain criteria are met.
[citation needed] In New York, Hatzalah usually use red and blue lights and sirens, like normal unmarked emergency vehicles.
[20] Since 2021, Florida law has permitted faith-based volunteer ambulance services to operate, allowing Hatzalah response vehicles to use emergency lights and sirens.
Hatzalah organizations are often involved in other community activities, on top of their primary mission of emergency medical work.
[citation needed] Hatzalah was predicated on the consideration of these challenges, especially with regard to halakha (Jewish law) and communities that only speak Yiddish or Hebrew.
[citation needed] A woman or girl worried about physical modesty and contact may be helped by knowing that a Jewish provider will be aware of the details of her concerns, and will act to reduce the problem as much as possible.
[citation needed] Many Hatzalah response crews will include at least one mental health professional (either a psychologist or psychiatrist), even if the emergency is not psychological in nature.
In areas where the EMS charges a fee, lower income clientele lacking health insurance may have a reluctance to call for an ambulance, unless the evidence of urgency is overwhelming.
[28] In contrast with most other EMS agencies, many Hatzalah volunteers will remain at the hospital with the patient long after bringing them to the emergency department.
This is especially true during serious cases, where volunteers will remain in order to help the patient and/or their families navigate the sometimes confusing series of events that occur during an emergency.
[citation needed] An example of those operating in uneven,[32] or otherwise especially challenging situations[33] is Catskills Hatzolah, handling the swelling summer crowd.
[11] Hatzalah was the subject of controversy as articles in the New York Post[37][38] and JEMS Magazine[39] criticize the organization for its practice of not allowing women to join.
"[41][42] "In our community, women also have a very strong motivation to seek female doctors", said their lawyer, Rachel Freier, a Brooklyn Civil Court Judge and Haredi Orthodox Jewish mother of six.
[43] Lack of public understanding of Hatzalah operations played a key role in the 1991 Crown Heights riot in Brooklyn.
[47] However, audio recordings exist of Hatzalah's own dispatch, including members calling for help during the collapse of the first tower.
[58] Chapters of the organization exist in Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Panama,England, Israel, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, Switzerland, and in the United States.
