Hatzolah

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Hatzolah ("rescue" or "relief" in Hebrew: הצלה‎), 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 City, Belgium, Switzerland, Canada, Russia^[1] and the United Kingdom^[2] (where it is known as Hatzola).

In the United States, Hatzolah was founded in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York by Rabbi Hershel Weber in the late 1960s and has grown to become the largest all-volunteer ambulance service in the US^[3]. The volunteers are trained EMTs 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, though they vary by the severity of the emergency, averaged 5 minutes and 43 seconds for fiscal year 2007 ^[4] ^[5], while Hatzolah of Borough Park's daytime response time averages under 4 minutes, with overall night-time averages of 7-8 minutes, regardless of the severity of the call.^[3] Each Hatzolah neighborhood's response time varies. Hatzolah of Los Angeles, for example, boasts a 90 second average response time. Hatzolah EMS of North Jersey Boasts a 2 minute respond time etc.. ^[6] One unique aspect of this primarily Jewish run ambulance service is that it still operates on shabbat. Having been used almost exclusively by the Jewish population, due to its extremely fast response time, many non Jews have been calling on them when requiring medical assistance.

[edit] Similar organizations

Some Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods have complementary volunteer squads. For example, some neighborhoods in New York City have Shomrim ( "custodian" or "guardian" ) citizen patrol organizations, and/or a Chaverim (literally, "friends") roadside assistance squad.