(By Sandy Eller)
Hundreds of Jewish families in two central New Jersey neighborhoods are breathing a little easier, now that a local branch of Hatzalah has opened in their adjacent communities.
Hatzalah of West Orange and Livingston launched at midnight on September 3rd, the culmination of a conversation that began nearly 10 years ago and picked up speed when COVID hit last year. An independent volunteer ambulance service providing 24/7 emergency medical response to residents of West Orange, Livingston and surrounding Essex County communities, Hatzalah of West Orange and Livingston currently has approximately 25 members which includes a mix of veterans and newly trained volunteers. Its four coordinators, Shael Sokolowski, Ilan Rosenrauch, Matthew Lipman and Josh Commer, were all Hatzolah members in other communities before moving to the area and have a combined total of 60 to 70 years of Hatzolah experience.
With many people relocating from deeply entrenched Jewish communities to West Orange and Livingston, residents who were familiar with Hatzolah reached out to the new arrivals when medical situations arose.
“Once people saw our cars and our equipment, we started getting all these calls and as their velocity intensified, we looked at each other and began putting things into motion,” Sokolowski told Yeshiva World News. “As soon as we started, things just took off.”
While local rabbonim were quick to endorse the initiative, some residents were less enthusiastic at first.
“We have a lot of out of town people who didn’t know about Hatzolah,” explained Sokolowski. “We spent a lot of time up front educating people about what differentiates us. We are frum people who understand Shabbos and yom tov and tznius. We check in on patients to make sure they are getting the proper care and make sure that their family members are doing well. 911 is awesome, but Hatzolah is Hatzolah.”
Thanks to communal donations, Hatzalah of West Orange and Livingston was able to launch with two ambulances, with one parked at Congregation AABJ&D in West Orange and the other at Suburban Torah Center in Livingston. Currently, there are more than 30 dispatchers, some of whom live in different parts of the United States and even overseas, taking calls from the 800 Orthodox Jewish families in the area, providing seamless, round the clock coverage.
Hatzalah of West Orange and Livingston is one of only three Hatzalah branches in the Garden State to be certified by the New Jersey Office of Emergency Medical Services, an extra level of approval that isn’t required by the New Jersey Department of Health. Sokolowski said that the group has been working closely with local fire, police and town officials and, in addition to providing emergency medical assistance, plans to launch preventive programming for the community.
“We are launching at a special time, as we come up to the yomim tovim,” said Sokolowski. “A tremendous amount of work has gone into setting up the organization and, baruch Hashem, we feel like we have arrived.”
Hatzalah of West Orange Livingston’s emergency number is 973-604-4000. For more information, visit them online at www.hatzalahwol.org or email them at [email protected].
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
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I had a cousin who moved to West Orange in the early 1970’s. Back then, there was one small Orthodox minyan that met in the basement of a large Conservative shul. So nice to see how the town has blossomed into a frum area.