MARCH 16 • 2023 | 17
OUR COMMUNITY
so expensive because they’re
essentially mini-hospitals on
wheels,” Soloff said.
For the second ambulance,
Soloff is hoping the commu-
nity will pitch in. “Hatzalah
is moving forward now, and
I want people to understand
they can be a part of it,” he
said.
The goal is to start trans-
porting patients to the hospi-
tal in November, and Hatzalah
will have the two-ambulance
minimum it needs to make
that happen. “But relying
on the used ambulance isn’t
ideal,” Soloff said.
The overall project cost of
providing transport is roughly
$900,000, which includes the
training costs of additional
EMTs and equipping them
each, which is roughly $3,000-
$4,000 per person.
Currently, Hatzalah has 15
volunteer EMTs and is train-
ing an additional 13. The goal
is to be at 20 before November
to handle the influx.
The organization also has 22
volunteer dispatchers, mostly
women, who are under the
leadership of EMT/Dispatch
Coordinator Yitzchak
Goldstein. Volunteer dispatch-
ers switch shifts every three
hours, and they must stay by
their phones. They send the
call’s address and details to
the nearest responder (they
are divided by zones) who is
equipped with a “jump bag”
trauma kit that includes all the
supplies needed to save lives,
including an oxygen kit and
an AED defibrillator.
“I make sure the protocols
are followed, the dispatch text
goes to the right people, and I
provide weekly and monthly
training to keep everything
fresh in the dispatchers’
minds,” Goldstein said.
MAKING AN IMPACT
Annual calls have more than
doubled since its first year in
operation, according to Soloff.
In 2022, Hatzalah responded
to 387 calls, everything from
simple lacerations to cardiac
arrests.
Volunteer EMTS are avail-
able 24 hours a day, seven days
a week to respond to emergen-
cies, although special arrange-
ments are made on Shabbat to
return vehicles and equipment
to where they need to be once
the emergency is over.
“
As long as there’s an emer-
gency that we’re going toward,
we can do whatever we need
to do to help that person or
to get to that scene, even if
it means doing things we
normally are not allowed to
do on Shabbos,” Soloff said.
“But once the call is over, well,
now we’re stuck. So we pay a
non-Jewish person on a week-
ly basis to help us get our cars
and equipment back to where
they need to be so we’re ready
for the next call.”
And EMTs are always ready
to jump when that next call
comes in. “There are times
when I’m sitting in a meeting
at work and tone goes off,”
said volunteer EMT Moshe
Davis, who is director of oper-
ations for a title company. “I
just leave in the middle of the
meeting, and everyone I’m
with knows I’m going to help
someone.
“We all have our regular
lives — our jobs, our families,
our shuls,” Davis added. “But
when that radio goes off, that
all goes to the side.”
Sometimes those calls are
a matter of life and death.
“
Although we haven’t delivered
any babies yet, there have been
a few calls we’ve had where
the baby was born before we
got there, so I think it’s just a
matter of time,” said volunteer
Hatzalah paramedic Asher
Sigler, whose day job is direc-
tor of a lab.
Davis added that they’ve
also responded to calls where
the patient has been clinically
dead. “There’s a man walking
around the community now
who is enjoying his kids and
grandkids who had collapsed
in cardiac arrest. He was
basically dead. And now he’s
walking around with no after-
effects,” he said. “
A large part
of the reason why is that we
were there in record time —
less than two minutes until we
were at the front door.”
Sigler said Hatzalah not
only brings familiarity to
people — who, because of
cultural and language barriers
or because they are Holocaust
survivors, are uncomfortable
dealing with outsiders — it
also brings peace of mind.
“When you’re having an
emergency, the anxiety of
waiting for help to arrive is
almost unbearable. Because
we can get there so quickly,
people calm down sooner,”
Sigler said.
MID-TERM GOAL:
ADVANCED LIFE
SUPPORT/NEW HQ
Another goal of Hatzalah
MI is to begin providing
Advanced Life Support, hope-
fully in the 2025/2026 time-
frame, according to Soloff.
Currently, Hatzalah provides
only Basic Life Support (BLS).
To become licensed to do that,
Hatzalah would need to have
more volunteer paramedics.
Currently, they have three,
including Soloff and Sigler.
According to Sigler, “When
it comes to responding to
emergencies, 100% of calls
begin with Basic Life Support.
Now, Hatzalah runs BLS, and
paramedics are heading to us
from Alliance or Southfield
Fire so there’s no gap in
time,” he said. “Even when we
advance to be able to provide
Advanced Life Support, our
EMTs are still going to arrive
on scene first, followed by
paramedics.”
So, what’s the difference
between an EMT and a para-
medic?
Chaim Cohen of Oak
Park and Asher Sigler of
Southfield practice their
CPR technique.
continued on page 18