Emergency Response Service for Jews in Russia's Capital



Saturday, December 04, 2004

MOSCOW, Russia – The Jewish community of Moscow has established a new emergency response ambulance service called 'Hatzolah of Moscow'. Intended to avoid the common delays of emergency medical service in the Russian capital, this service will provide community members with immediate care and will train local volunteers to serve in first response teams until doctors can attend to them.

The Chairman of 'Hatzolah Emergency Services of Israel', Dovid Greenwald, visited Moscow for the launch of this service, bringing with him a team of instructors from both 'Hatzolah' and the 'Magen David Adom', the national Israeli emergency response team.

The management of the new Hatzolah of Moscow will be led by Rabbi Shia Deitch, Director of Humanitarian services at the Marina Rosha Jewish Community Center, as well as Yakov Fridman and Efraim Malov.

Rabbi Deitch expressed his hope that the new service will help save lives. "Our service, complete with our own ambulance and qualified first aid volunteers, will be able to reach those in critical need and these extra minutes before the doctors arrive can save lives," he explained.

Over the past week, thirty volunteers received intensive courses in first aid and emergency response. The participants will continue to receive tuition, upon completion of which they will receive their certificates as qualified emergency responders.

This new emergency service will be coordinated together with Moscow's ambulance services and local hospitals.

Full Artcile with images: http://www.fjc.ru/news/newsArticle.asp?AID=235422