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A laypersons take on Hatzolah and the Los Angeles Fire Department.
I am not a member of Hatzolah but I have called them to my house on several occasions. After thorough research on this matter, below is my understanding of the system.
Why its important to call Hatzolah in an emergency:
Why should I call Hatzolah before LAFD?
Even if paramedics arrive on scene, they are initially taking care of things the EMT would do anyways.
If I need a paramedic for a serious emergency why would I delay by calling Hatzolah?
Hatzolah dispatchers are trained to get basic information and hang up with the caller within 30 seconds.
To illustrate: Take any emergency (whether it be a serious heart attack or a heavy bleed).
I am told that for certain calls, the Hatzolah dispatcher will tell the caller to also call 911. The Hatzolah dispatcher also calls 911 herself to make sure they are coming.
In a serious situation, if Hatzolah sees that the Fire Department ambulance is delayed, and if they can get you to the hospital before the Fire Department ambulance would arrive, Hatzolah will take you to the hospital in their ambulance.
I am not even going to get into the details of why I would prefer Hatzolah on scene, with a heimishe attitude, as opposed to the Fire Department.
Bottom line:
If you have an emergency, call Hatzolah first! If you have two people available to make calls, then simultaneously call both Hatzolah and LAFD.
we had an emergency this week shabbos and had to call hatzaloh. they are true malachim!they arrived in seconds! may hashem watch over them!! they do so much for klal yisroel!!
There is no question that you will get better care if you call Hatzolah in LA. The fire department here could care less and I would agree that they take forever just to get out of their stations. Its the biggest problem LA Hatzolah faces, they want you to call them first but the firemen make such a big deal out of it if they find out you didn’t call 911 first. How do they know? They ask when they get to a frum house and then lecture the family. its only a question of time before hatzolah finally takes a stand against the fire department. If you talk to the la hatzolah guys, they’ll tell you that they’ve witnessed the fire department guys doing cpr wrong and other such malpractice but can’t say a word because of the politics. A couple more dead patients c’v ought to bring enough outrage.
So they lecture. Just ignore them and continue calling Hatzalah first and 911 second.
If you talk to the la hatzolah guys, they’ll tell you that they’ve witnessed the fire department guys doing cpr wrong and other such malpractice but can’t say a word because of the politics.
Thats very sad.I just hope there’s no internal Hatzolah politics
First, second.
Call both. its a race.
If a person wants to call Hatzolah -let them call Hatzolah, if they want to call 911 -let them call 911. There is no reason to call both. The victim or victim’s family don’t need this extra burden. If the H dispatcher can determine from the caller that it’s an ALS call or Hatzolah members at the scene determine it’s ALS, Hatzolah dispatchers should and probably do call for ALS backup. Don’t confuse a simple situation! The best thing that people can do besides calling EMS is to learn CPR & First Aid in order to help YOUR family member until professional help arrives!
BTW, this is why 911 keeps you on the phone so long to tell you what to do, if you never learned or if you forgot. I’ll reiterate – Everyone should learn CPR & First Aid! You should also refresh every one -two years, so you won’t forget!
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