OUR COMMUNITY
“WE ALL HAVE OUR REGULAR LIVES — OUR
JOBS, OUR FAMILIES, OUR SHULS — BUT WHEN
THAT RADIO GOES OFF, THAT ALL GOES
TO THE SIDE.”
— MOSHE DAVIS
continued from page 15
16 | MARCH 16 • 2023
ON THE COVER
Oak Park has turned to Hatzalah
for help on several occasions, often
for a piece of equipment called a
Lucas device, which does manual
compressions during cardiac arrest.
In the beginning, Oak Park would call
Hatzalah to meet them on-scene when
needed. Eventually, Hatzalah (through
a generous donation from Gary
Torgow, chairman of Huntington Bank)
donated a Lucas device to Oak Park.
“They’ve told us it has saved dozens of
lives,” Soloff said.
Oak Park Public Safety Director
Steven Cooper says the relationship
his department has built with Hatzalah
has been “nothing short of great. Their
level of expertise, professionalism and
collaboration has been second to none.
The feedback from my staff from work-
ing with members Hatzalah has been
outstanding. It’s a great idea that they
advance to the next level and provide
transport, which will continue to sup-
plement our response services. I’m very
supportive of them taking this next
step.”
SHORT-TERM GOAL: BECOMING
A TRANSPORT PROVIDER
Since that initial discussion six months
ago, Hatzalah has been taking the nec-
essary steps and going through the pro-
cess to bring its dream to fruition.
First, they talked with their donors
and their membership at large, making
sure everyone was comfortable, includ-
ing the private ambulance agencies that
operate within Oak Park. “They were
fully supportive,” Soloff said.
So far, the organization has procured
one used ambulance, and their goal is
to acquire two new ambulances as well.
They are reaching out for grants from
different organizations and looking for
donors.
Soloff said they almost certainly have
one of the new ambulances covered,
but he won’t know for sure until the
end of April.
A new ambulance can cost between
$240,000-$260,000. Fully equipped, the
cost goes up to $350,000. “They are
Moshe Davis of Southfield,
Yitczack Goldstein of
Oak Park, Asher Sigler of
Southfield, Chaim Cohen of
Oak Park and Nachy Soloff of
Southfield.