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.