My wife and I would like to thank you and all the devoted volunteers for their extreme dedication. Our story shows how you went above and beyond the call of duty to save a life. Over a period of 7 days, our son was experiencing severe headaches; he blacked out a few times. The Emergency Room continued to send him home without a diagnosis. They concluded that their tests found nothing wrong with him. Your members made every effort to assess the situation and work with the hospital, but to no avail; the hospitals were adamant that "nothing was wrong".

He was frequently collapsing and vomiting and endlessly sleeping. The result was 5 separate calls to Hatzoloh and him being brought to 2 different hospitals and being sent home each time with the diagnosis of just a headache. We were told by Hatzoloh that waiting a week for a neurologist appointment was extremely dangerous.

After he had collapsed again Motzei Shabbas, Hatzoloh rushed him again to the hospital. After a few hours and much pressure towards the hospital staff by Hatzoloh members, the hospital staff performed additional testing of our son’s shunt. They finally realized that our son’s shunt had been malfunctioning even though previous tests had been negative; apparently the tests showed a false negative.

He was immediately rushed to the Operating Room where he had his shunt replaced and Baruch Hashem walked out of the hospital less than 24 hours later. His condition was properly treated, and he is now back to normal.

Your members didn’t simply take a “call” and leave. They took interest, gave away hours of sleep, and spent time to assure that this sick person was properly taken care of. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts and wish you and your families only simchos and Bracha.

Yeyasher Kochachem Vetizku Lemitzvos.

With sincere gratitude,

M. L. & C. L.

I have already been a member of Hatzoloh for a year and a half. Yet I feel that I have just joined this elite group of individuals, or as my Rabbi calls them "Walking Angels." You see, I just had my first save.

It was a Shabbat afternoon and I just got home from shul when the familiar beep of the radio interrupted our lunch. "Unresponsive Ocean Parkway and L. Any units available?” Without a second thought I was out the door and joining a team of seven members heading to try and save a fellow Jew. Ashkenazim and Sephardim, all heading in one direction, to perform this most special mitzvah. As if cleared by Hashem himself, I drove the 3 or 4 blocks and made every light, had the elevator waiting for me and the front door to the apartment open.

We walked in and started working on a man. Then it hit me. I was trying to save the life of the man who sat directly behind me in shul. He is much older than I am yet over the past year we have developed a friendship as he would tell me stories about my father. I recognized all the family members who entered the apartment, the concern and fear evident on their faces.

The team worked like a well oiled machine, each member doing his part. One man was doing CPR, the other was setting up equipment. All focused. All determined. The medic called out, "Everybody clear from the patient. I am going to shock him." One shock....nothing. CPR.

Second shock..... "Is he breathing? See if you can get a pulse!"

By the time we got to the hospital, my friend’s blood pressure came back and he looked much better. The doctors were impressed. Less than 4 or 5 minutes. That's all it took. To me it seemed like an hour. But from the time my radio beeped till that second shock was less than 5 minutes. All the things that could have gone wrong that didn't. All the miracles that happened for it to go right. It reminded me of something I was told the first day I joined. "We are just messengers. In the merit of our mitzvah hopefully Hashem saves the patient. Sometimes He does, sometimes He doesn't. We have to do our part."

After this scenario I have a different outlook on Hatzoloh. This story is not unique. Members walk around and share saves and baby deliveries like old buddies share war stories. All the training, all the preparation, all the equipment, all the people and all the money.

It is all done for this moment.

My friend was back in shul within 2 weeks.

Several years ago I was the victim of a terrible car accident. While waiting for the red light to turn green on Ocean Avenue I was violently struck from behind and into two other cars by a distracted driver. Within what seemed like seconds the police and fire department responded to the scene. I was in a daze, my car totaled, crushed like an accordion, and the engine smoking. The fire department knew what to do with the smoking engine, but when it came to me they tried to drag me and my injured leg out of the car by my shoulders.

Then you guys showed up, Baruch Hashem, and took control of getting me out of the car. Sam (Sammy) I remember was one of the Hatzoloh EMT. He especially took initial control of getting me out of the car. He was caring, comforting and professional all at the same time. He and the other EMT got me and my injured leg out of the car, into the ambulance, and onto the hospital. What struck me at the time was the care, caution and the speed of your EMT’s. Being a nurse, I come across many EMT’s in the regular section and if I had to make a choice, I'd choose you.

In brief their (Sam and Co.) presence, I believe, made a significant difference in certain outcomes. Since that time I had promised myself that I would make a contribution to Hatzoloh but got caught up in life. Each time I saw a Hatzoloh ambulance I would feel a bite of guilt and reaffirm the promise. Well here we are six years later and after suffering another illness I came to the realization that I should no longer put off the things in life I want to do or have been meaning to do. Enclosed please find a small gift to you; I hope you can continue to serve as you have in the past, with genuine care and professionalism.

I thank you for being there when I needed you; I wish you all great health and continued success. If Sam is still with Hatzoloh, please give him an extra thank you for me.

A Little Perspective

As a member for close to 4 years I am sure that there is still much I have to learn regarding taking calls and dealing with the different aspects of being a member of Hatzoloh.

I was recently on a call with a senior member of some 25 plus years and took the opportunity to discuss different aspects of being a member. Our conversation focused on our most recent patient.

We just finished transporting a 90 year old woman with Alzheimers.

She wasn’t feeling well and had fainted during dinner.

For me these calls are very difficult because of the emotional stress they put on me. Here is a woman who, just a few years ago, was probably a thriving member of the community. She is a mother so I am sure her days were spent caring and raising her family. But today, all she can do is sit around and ramble in incoherent sentences, as she would plead for help over and over and over.

My questions for the senior member focused mainly on me. When do these types of calls start getting easier? When does the feeling to cry for this type of patient pass? Am I doing something wrong because this patient affects me so?

He looked at me and gathered his thoughts for a few moments and gave me the following answer.

“When people call Hatzoloh not every call is an emergency. You also, unfortunately, get to see people in pain. At times it can be taxing.

It’s not always easy to keep the same intensity. When that happens, you have to step back and take a break. People call us because they expect a caring fellow to walk through the doors and treat the patient like they would treat their own mother. It never gets easier and you should always have that feeling to cry. If you don’t you should join a different organization.”

Wow. For me that answer was a revelation. His words kept ringing in my ears for days. They reminded me why it’s vital to have an organization like Hatzoloh in our community and why we have to go the extra mile for every patient.

It’s never too late

I was heading back from my 2nd call in a row and about to park the ambulance, when another call was dispatched over the air for a patient who had difficulty breathing. So off I went for the 3rd call in a row. En route the dispatchers announced that the patient was now in cardiac arrest.

We arrived at the doctor’s office waiting room to find a woman in her 50's lying on a few chairs with a sheet over her. The doctor had let us know that it was over for her. I asked if he had done CPR and he replied that she was in a flat line rhythm and had prior history of cardiac complications, there was no use to attempt to revive her.

To my surprise I decided against his better judgment. I put the patient on the floor and begin CPR with my partner. The paramedics then arrived and we worked together as a team trying to revive this woman. All the while the doctor stood by and thought we were wasting our time. After a few minutes we got her pulse back, her blood pressure had also come up! She was transported to the hospital with strong vital signs.

Thanks to Hashem and to the persistency of not letting another Jew die so easily, I'm glad to say that today she is alive and well.

Words cannot express my deepest admiration for your outstanding organization. Your special care of my husband, myself and for my family is unsurpassed. Always there for us, you helped make a horrific time in out lives a lot easier to endure.

Each time I called for you Hatzoloh came sweetly to our home with caring eyes and hearts. I always felt a calm come over me as soon as you arrived. And just as we jumped into the ambulance I’d say to myself, “this is going to be terrible,” but your kindness made it better. I remember asking a driver why was a Jewish driver needed on Shabbos and he said that, “because he feels differently about his own people.” And it is really the truth. You put my faith back into yiden.

I became a proud Jew knowing there are other Jews, such as yourself, who run the extra mile for others.

May Hashem bless all of you. May you never know the pain and suffering of these horrible illnesses!

Thank you so much. My husband respected you all and was always so grateful.

Thank you for honoring us in such a fine way.