As we experience the High Holy Days, many of us reflect on how we’ve spent the past year and what we want to achieve in the next 12 months. Some people consider what they’ve achieved month on month. Some what they’ve done each week. Some even weigh the merits of each day. Very few consider their impact on the world or on those around them every minute or every second. A United Hatzalah medic does.
United Hatzalah of Israel is a volunteer emergency medical service that exists to bridge the gap between the time an emergency call is made and the time an ambulance arrives. With around four minutes before lack of oxygen can permanently affect the brain, speed of response is crucial. It can literally be the difference between full or partial recovery, or between life and death. This reality is the entire basis of United Hatzalah.
When a medical emergency occurs, United Hatzalah alerts the closest available volunteer medics to the scene, which means help arrives within minutes – in urban areas, sometimes as fast as 90 seconds. Sometimes the caller hasn’t even hung up the phone. United Hatzalah’s goal is a 90-second response to every emergency, across the country.
Any of its 8,600 volunteer medics could be next door, in the kiosk down the road or riding their ambucycle on the way to meet friends. When an alert comes through, they drop everything to respond and begin treatment.
