Crown Heights Hatzalah “Car-1” Gets An Upgrade
by CrownHeights.info
A Crown Heights Hatzalah program initiated in 2015 has been so wildly successful, that it has now received its second upgrade, and is on its third vehicle.
The Crown Heights Hatzalah “Fly Car”, first generously donated by Crown Heights Community member Naftali and Chaya Berkowitz in 2018, was meant as a means of cutting down response time to emergency calls, and assisting the Hatzalah volunteers with parking.
“I used to frequently accompany and elderly neighbor of mine to the hospital for treatment when his only daughter was away, and I befriended the Hatzalah volunteers who would transport him there,” Naftali Berkowitz told CrownHeights.info in an interview. “It struck me that these men are busy fathers, workers and businessmen like the rest of us, yet when they receive a call that someone is in need – whether for a minor injury or a life-and-death emergency – they drop everything and run.”
“Though the volunteers are thrilled to do the Mitzva,” Naftali continued, “it often is very difficult for them to find parking for their vehicles upon returning from a call, especially late at night. The several minutes they dedicated to helping someone in need can quickly turn into hours as they search in vain for parking in close enough proximity.”
The fly car program, a leased vehicle courtesy of Leasing Direct, was so successful that the Berkowitz’s leased a new vehicle for Hatzalah in 2018, making it “Car-1’s” first upgrade.
Three years later, they continued what is now a tradition by leasing a brand new Chevy Tahoe for Crown Heights Hatzalah.
The new vehicle, resplendent with emergency lights, sirens, and Hatzalah decals, made its first debut on the streets of Crown Heights last night, responding to emergencies as a “Night Watch” response.
The emergency fly car is not just simply a method of transportation, rather it is also a fully equipped “ambulance”, filled with all the life saving equipment of an ambulance minus a stretcher.
“The work they do is often taken for granted, but I believe that we have an obligation to supply them with the very best equipment and technology, and this vehicle will shave off precious minutes from their response times to life-and-death emergencies – when every second counts,” Berkowitz noted.
In the last two years, Crown Heights Hatzalah has stepped up its work in providing the highest level of care for the Crown Heights community including buying a fifth ambulance, upgrading its existing fleet with self loading stretchers, and purchasing land to build a headquarters as a base of operations.
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