Secrets of Crown Heights – What Really Happens at Night

The difference between a two to three minute emergency medical response time and six to eight minutes can often times be the difference between life and death, and avoid life-altering irreparable damage. And that’s why Hatzalah of Crown Height’s “Car-1” is perhaps one of its most integral features.

Famous for its near-instant response time, Hatzalah of Crown Heights works tirelessly to provide rapid response, sparing hundreds of lives in the process. Indeed, the constant buzz of a Hatzalah member’s communication system is a ubiquitous feature of daily life in the neighborhood, giving everyone the sense of calm that, come what may, immediate help is on the way.

But when the sun dips below the horizon, the world grinds to a halt, and everyone retires for the night, response times can stretch. After all, though every member is always “on call,” always at the ready, the fact of the matter is that when a call comes in the dead of the night, it takes time to awake, throw on clothing, run out of the house and find the car.

Enter “Car-1.” To ensure maximum safety for the community, two dedicated Hatzalah members are on rotation and take shifts sitting in a Hatzalah vehicle all night long. While you sleep peacefully, there’s always someone awake and ready to turn the key on the ignition and rush to the scene wherever it may be.

And so, speedy response time is ensured even in the wee hours of the morning when everyone else is sleeping soundly in bed.

While it takes tremendous sacrifice from both the Hatzalah member sitting in the car and his wife holding the fort back home, the job is done wholeheartedly. These dedicated members are happy to give up their personal time so as to ensure the safety of everyone else.

Hatzalah’s number one priority is to get to the scene as soon as possible and get a pair of eyes on the patient. Many times a call comes in with a certain description, when in reality it’s something very different. That’s why getting to the scene and seeing it first-hand is so critical.

“Car-1” has literally been the difference between life and death on countless occasions. “Car-1” is just one of the many projects and programs designed to offer a professional and extremely efficient service to the community.

Considering the current scattered command centers from which Hatzalah operates, it’s remarkable that such professional operations exist at all. With the upcoming groundbreaking for a new, spacious state-of-the-art facility, the prospect of heightened capabilities and efficiency is extremely exciting. Whatever is already in place im yirtzeh Hashem only stands to improve, bringing Hatzalah’s life-saving services to an ever-growing community in ever-expanding ways.

The entire community is invited to the groundbreaking of Crown Heights Hatzalah’s new headquarters at 533 Albany Avenue IYH this Sunday, 24 Adar Beis / March 27 at 1:00 pm.
Participate in the ongoing campaign at chhatzalah.org/building