Thank you for the letter and I guess a good way to start off my post is with a big thank you to all the memebers of Hatzalah who not give up of their free time, but of also all the special times (IE: shabbos seudah, any given tefillah, pesech seder, kol nedrei etc… I think we get the idea) that we take for granted. They do an encridible job and B”H who can say how many lives were saved due to their quick responses and dedicated service.
However, with the good you will find some bad. There is a Yetzer horah and part of it might be to abuse the privelages that come with the service. If they are on a call I don’t care where they park, it all about saving a life. But, when they need a parking spot for any other reason, then they should do the Hakafa like everyone else. The siren, again when they are on call. However, I have seen situations when a hatzalah member (was later removed) was late for an apointment and on went the lights and siren. So put in perspective, we have this fabulous system that saves lives and is a true kiddush Hashem that is tainted by yechidim (individuals) who want to take advantage of the system. It is wrong and each person when doing it (even to just double park) is at risk at dimnishing the value of Hatzalah and obvous chillul Hashem.