The middle of the fast, blistering heat: Who saved the assistant?

Once again the efficiency and bravery of members of the ultra-Orthodox rescue organizations in the United States have proven to be above all others, and sometimes they also get to do a Kiddush Hashem, making the talk in the media.

Yesterday afternoon of Tisha B'Av, the temperature climbed in New York and came to about 100 degrees Fahrenheit (about 38 Celsius). Manhattan held a joint press conference on the street, in which one of the council members serving in the municipality stands alongside Christine Quinn, one of the contenders for mayor of New York, elections to be held in November, and they present their views to the public.

Due to the hot weather, Kevin's assistant was not feeling well - and suddenly collapsed. Kevin immediately called 911 and called the municipal rescue. The dispatcher at the other end promised to send an ambulance as soon as possible. Precious minutes passed and the ambulance was slow to arrive. Kevin tried to call again and again, and promises were repeated, but no ambulance arrived. In despair, the candidate contacted the police commander and complained to him about the degradation of human life from the urban rescue system.

By Divine Providence, near the commander was one of his Jewish aides. He did not lose time and after ensuring the venue, he called Hatzalah of Williamsburg. Within four minutes after the call, three orthodox volunteers showed up in the midst of the fast, and gave the unconscious first medical treatment. She was taken by them to the nearest hospital.

Quinn, who did not know where the prompt assistance came from, innocently thought these were the 911 local volunteers. She was sure that only the desperate phone call made to the chief of police, sped things up. She hurried to media interviews, and receiving the ineffectiveness of the emergency services and the fact that only the intervention of the police chief, shortened the proceedings. "It is an unparalleled scandal." She cried and promised to address the issue urgently. Media has already started to point the finger of negligence to emergency and rescue services. "It cannot be argued that the municipality pays for the rescue forces and actual readings recorded these failures one after another," stated the speakers and interviewers.

The reason for the long delay as it turned out is precisely due to the foreground. Emergency services in New York, implemented a new computerized telecommunications designed to route the calls to rescue and police, according to different parameters. But this system has been able to miss and miss a number of urgent calls. Several residents who needed urgent help died until an ambulance arrived.

Emergency services spokesman, who were asked to respond to Kevin, apologized that they understood the call of the caller, who is not in real danger and therefore preferred to send ambulances to places of higher priority. "We redirect the rescue of callers according to reports. In this present case, we were not particularly impressed by the urgency of the call and we placed her as secondary priority."

Only after several hours, Kevin learned that those who actually saved her assistant were none other than avrechim volunteers not affiliated to the official rescue services of New York. When she learned that they even rushed to the scene in the midst of oppressive heat exhausting fasting, she increased admiration and praise and she began to praise the organization from every platform. "Congratulations to the orthodox on the important job they did. Particularly that this is voluntary basis. We will never forget this", she promised.

'בחדרי' גם ברשתות החברתיות - הצטרפו!