Chevra Hatzolah

HISTORY OF HATZOLAH

In 1995 members of the Adass community in Melbourne (an orthodox Jewish Community) identified the following:

• Melbourne had an ageing Jewish population.

• The general Jewish population was not seeking help in an emergency early enough. People were suffering with pain for a long period of time without doing anything about it.

• The Melbourne Jewish Community had specific cultural, religious and emotional needs.

• A large number of elderly people in the Jewish community did not speak English or have a good grasp of the English language.

• There were a large number of Holocaust Survivors who were reluctant to call Ambulance for fear of being taken away and not returning.

These four members of the Adass Community approached the Melbourne Metropolitan Ambulance Service (MAS) and raised the issues mentioned above. After many meetings the concept of a Community Based Responder Group was born. MAS believed that we were the best people to deal with the issues that our community faced. We would become the FIRST link in the Chain of Survival.

MISSION STATEMENT

To provide a professional, high level of Emergency Care, to members of the Jewish Community, in a predefined area, within an efficient timeframe

AIMS OF HATZOLAH

Hatzolah’s aims are as follows:

1. To provide a timely and efficient response to all medical emergencies.

2. To provide basic life support in those vital first few minutes, as part of the chain of survival concept, until the ambulance arrives.

3. To facilitate training of all members of the identified community in first aid.

4. To assist ambulance officers in dealing with patients whose first language is not English.

5. To provide cultural and emotional support to members of the identified Jewish community in emergency situations.