To date, United Hatzalah answers an average of 650 calls per day, totaling well over 200,000 calls per year, of which about 25% are life threatening. This means that more than 50,000 lives are saved each year in Israel due to the heroic efforts of Hatzalah volunteers. All because a sixteen-year-old boy decided the system had to change…
I asked Eli what the secret was to United Hatzalah’s incredibly rapid response time.
“It all began,” he said, “with a ten-year-old boy in Eilat. He had a heart attack and, tragically, died in a hotel room only a few steps away from a Hatzalah paramedic who was staying at the same hotel.
“The Hatzalah paramedic was completely unaware of the emergency taking place a few doors down from him.
“If only Hatzalah volunteers had GPS systems on them, so that dispatchers could send the closest volunteers to each emergency,” I thought. “It could save so many more lives…
“With this thought in mind and with generous funding from Irving and Cherna Moskowitz, we were fortunate to develop the Moskowitz Life Compass System, nearly seven years ago, before smart phones with built-in GPS devices had even been heard of. This breakthrough technology allows the Hatzalah call center to constantly monitor the location of every Hatzalah volunteer in the country and to send him out based on four criteria. 1) Who is closest, geographically, to the scene; 2) Who has the highest level of training, based on the emergency at hand (many Hatzalah volunteers are MDs and specialists in addition to being trained EMTs); 3) Who has the best equipment for that particular emergency (i.e. a defibrillator for a heart attack victim, a burn kit for a burn victim); 4) How is the volunteer traveling; by foot, by car or ambucycle (These ambulance-motorcycle hybrids have the fastest response times, because they can weave in and out of heavy traffic.)”
Mr. Beer shows me his phone. “See? I have set it to ‘walking’ mode now, so I will only receive calls that are close enough for me to get to by foot.” The Life Compass System also acts as a two-way GPS, enabling dispatchers to locate victims with incredible accuracy. Even in a dark alleyway, it can pinpoint their location to within two meters. Wow! What an incredible use of technology.
With his consent, I asked Eli some personal questions. I wondered if he still goes out on emergency calls and if so, how he balances those calls with his family life.
Eli leaned back and regarded me thoughtfully. “I am lucky to have a family that is in love with this organization. My wife, Gitty, is the love of my life and I owe so much to her and to my children. Most families of long-term Hatzalah volunteers feel this way. Once a year, we hold a huge get together for all of the volunteers and their families. It is a way for us to bond and to show our appreciation. Children of Hatzalah volunteers feel very special.”
I smile back at him. “They should feel special, their parents are true heroes.”
Eli grins tiredly and I suddenly notice the deep circles under his eyes.
“How many hours a day do you actually sleep?” I ask hesitantly.
“Not many. About four,” he admits, ruefully. “The nights when you go to bed at 4:00 a.m. and your phone’s alarm rings at 6:00 a.m. are tough.”
Life and death, grief and elation, sadness and hope. He walks this knife’s edge daily, bravely defying the odds as he tries to save just one more precious life.
“How many lives have you actually saved?” I ask him suddenly. He looks at the ground modestly. “I don’t know,” he says quietly.