Hatzolah

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Hatzolah ("rescue" or "relief" in Hebrew), is a volunteer Emergency medical service (EMS) organization functioning in Israel and in many Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods in major cities of the United States, as well as in Australia, South Africa, Mexico, Belgium, Switzerland, Canada, Russia, and the United Kingdom.

In the United States, Hatzolah was founded in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York by Rabbi Hershel Weber in the late 1960's and has grown to become the largest all-volunteer ambulance service in the US^[1]. The volunteers are trained EMT's or Paramedics.

In marked distinction from most US EMS organizations, Hatzolah uses a Fly-car system, where assigned members respond to the emergency with their private cars, with one member assigned to pick up the ambulance from the base location. Each Hatzolah volunteer is fully equipped with EMT or paramedic supplies. This system decreases response times dramatically. As an example, New York City EMS's overall response times tend to average around 8 minutes, ^[2] while Hatzolah's response times average at around 4 minutes.^[3]

[edit] External links

• Central Hatzolah
• Hatzalah Emergency Rescue Centers in Israel
• Hatzolah of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY, USA
• Hatzolah of Crown Heights, Brooklyn, NY, USA
• Hatzolah of Queens, NY, USA
• Hatzolah of North Jersey, NJ, USA
• Hatzalah of Elizabeth, NJ, USA
• Hatzolah of Los Angeles, California, USA
• Hatzolah of Montreal, Canada
• Hatzolah of Johannesburg, South Africa
• Hatzolah of Melbourne, Australia
• Hatzolah of Sydney Australia
• Hatzolah of Israel

[edit] References

1. ^ Bloomberg, M. (2005). Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg Announces Two Initiatives To Redevelop Underutilized Land In The Culver El Section Of Borough Park.
2. ^ FDNY EMS Response Times (2006).
3. ^ Bloomberg, M. (2005). Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg Announces Two Initiatives To Redevelop Underutilized Land In The Culver El Section Of Borough Park.