Shimishi Grossberger is the chapter head of United Hatzalah in Betar Illit. He has been working diligently for the past two years to open a Emergency medical clinic in the city of Betar Illit, a city with 55,000 residents that until recently, did not have an emergency medical clinic.

The newly founded clinic belongs to the Terem chain of emergency medical clinics and serves as a walk-in clinic that provides medical care for anyone who is ill, injured or otherwise in need of medical assistance, regardless of their HMO or medical plan.

“We are a large city that is located relatively far from the nearest hospital, and we are very much in need of an emergency walk-in clinic such as Terem,” Grossberger said. “I have been working for a long time in order to establish a Terem emergency medical center in Betar, and once the city was on board and the land was allocated, all we were missing was the funding. I began fundraising and raised a good amount of money but there was still a lot missing.”

Believing that Terem and United Hatzalah shared similar goals, Grossberger approached the national volunteer organization and asked them to help fund the project. “I spoke to the Director of United Hatzalah, Moshe Teitelbaum and asked him to help fund the project. I did not think that he would agree so quickly, but he came on board right away.”

United Hatzalah provided enough funding to allow Grossberger and the city council of Betar to open not one but two Terem clinics in different neighborhoods. What it received in return was Terem teaching classes to United Hatzalah volunteer EMTs in the area regarding taking blood samples, something that Terem is licensed to do.

“The first clinic has been open for a few weeks now but only on Shabbos. We are hoping to open full-time within two weeks,” Grossberger said. The second clinic opened its doors this past Shabbos for the first time.

“We can now treat outpatients in a proper and professional manner,” Grossberger exclaimed. “We have a clinic that can do its own blood work, has its own lab and tests, is available in the city for all of the residents, regardless of their HMO plan, and it even has an x-ray machine and highly professional staff that everyone is accustomed to finding at Terem clinics. We didn’t have any of that before and it will make a big difference for the residents of this city.”

Complying with both Terem policy and the policy of United Hatzalah, as well as catering to the populace of of Betar Illit, the clinic will hold to a very strict procedural format in line with the halachic guidelines surrounding the practice of medicine on Shabbos.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)