Linor Attias, deputy director of international emergency operations for United Hatzalah, inspired Raquel Esrock’s bat mitzvah project: Maple Syrup and Mitzvahs. (photo by Robin Esrock)
In a critical medical emergency, life and death depend on the help one receives and how quickly it arrives. By the time an ambulance shows up, it can be too late to stabilize the victim of a heart attack, apply a life-saving torniquet or deliver CPR. However, United Hatzalah, a rapid medical response service in Israel, can get trained medics on site within 90 seconds of an emergency call.
Linor Attias, the deputy director of international emergency operations for United Hatzalah, addressed a small fundraiser at a living room in West Vancouver on Dec. 2. She wore the orange vest of a first responder, shared stories of everyday heroes, tearing up over the tragedy of Oct. 7. As the emcee for the event, I knew there was much to discuss, but I started with a simple fact. Founded in Jerusalem in 2006, United Hatzalah has responded to more than seven million medical emergencies and saved the lives of tens of thousands of people.
Supporting both patients and Magen David Adom, UH has become an integral part of the Israeli cultural fabric. A lifesaving group of more than 8,000 unpaid volunteers, including Jews, Arabs, Druze and Christians, treat everyone and anyone in need, without charging a penny.
After a six-month training period and on-call internship, volunteers use an app that geo-locates their proximity to a medical emergency. When someone calls one of Israel’s three emergency numbers for help (instead of one number, 911, for all emergencies, Israel has different numbers for medical, fire or police) United Hatzalah’s system immediately locates the nearest five volunteers. It pings their app, and they can be on site in three minutes with a fully stocked medic bag. The paramedic volunteer stabilizes the patient, performs life-saving first-aid if needed, and remains until an ambulance arrives.
“It’s not just about the person who is not well or injured,” explained Attias. “Everyone surrounding them feels calm and safe knowing someone is handling the situation. When the ambulance arrives, they take over.”
If a volunteer happens to be at work that day, they could be back at their desk within 20 minutes.
Volunteers sign up from all backgrounds: rich, poor, religious, secular, shopkeepers, teachers, accountants, surfers, mechanics, students, and retired grandparents, too. If they’re unavailable, they simply toggle a switch in the app and the algorithm automatically moves to the next volunteer.
UH volunteers are registered, well-trained and passionate to help. Like Attias, many found their way to UH after being impacted personally by a medical emergency. In her case, it was hearing how an ambulance showed up too late to save her uncle, the victim of a bombing attack. For an Arab volunteer, it was the Jewish UH volunteer who saved his father during a heart attack. Two books have been published filled with incredible stories of universal compassion and head-scratching rescues.
At UH’s headquarters in Jerusalem, there are Haredi staff and volunteers working alongside Muslim and secular colleagues. Attias also has directed UH volunteer groups to disasters abroad, rushing to underserved areas after earthquakes in Morocco and Türkiye.
“They hate Israelis in Türkiye,” she told those gathered. “Then they see the Israeli flag on the vest of the rescue worker saving their life, and it’s ‘thank you Israel, thank you!’ We saved 19 people from the rubble.” She still keeps in touch with the family of a 7-year-old girl she saved in Türkiye; the father sent messages of support on Oct. 8.
Attias suffers post-traumatic stress disorder from what she witnessed during the Hamas attack in 2023. She was on the ground, a first responder, her own life at risk; other UH volunteers were murdered and kidnapped. She was part of a UH team that set up critical triage camps to treat the wounded. When a UH volunteer livestreamed the number of bodies, Attias could not believe it was real. Today, UH operates a psycho-trauma unit to help volunteers and the public deal with what they experienced that day.
Attias spoke about how United Hatzalah is preparing for the next Oct. 7. United Hatzalah plans to be better prepared to save more lives. They are running simulated training exercises for volunteers, complete with smoke machines and make-up artists, hoping to acclimatize responders to the chaos that would exist. In the aftermath of Oct. 7, UH has seen a boost in volunteers. People are signing up to give something back, to show their appreciation and to feel less powerless, said Attias.
The ubiquitous orange vests of UH volunteers are seen throughout Israel, often riding a distinctive Ambucycle or Ambuscooter, skirting traffic or entering public markets. This is a crowdsourced, localized and turbocharged emergency medical response system that is being studied and adopted by other parts of the world, including India and Brazil, and the state of Idaho. Jeff Klein, who sits on the board of United Hatzalah Canada, shared that Vancouver City Council was also exploring the model before UH Canada shifted its efforts to support Israel in the wake of Oct. 7. Countries and communities have different cultural attitudes when it comes to volunteering and liability, but a model that works in Israel can work anywhere, with adaptations.
United Hatzalah is funded entirely by donors and receives no money from the Israeli government.
“We don’t call them donors, we call them partners,” explained Attias. Funds go directly towards life-saving medical equipment, she said, and partners receive updates about how that equipment – be it an Ambucycle, oxygen kit or medic bag – has been used. It’s all transparent, and UH is widely regarded as one of the key charities making a meaningful difference in modern Israel.
Attias showed us a picture of all-female volunteer group gathered in a circle after a recent training exercise. There are women wearing hijabs next to Orthodox Jews wearing wigs. Secular, religious, people of all shades, all smiling, all participating in a noble cause greater than oneself. Attias believes this is Isaiah’s prophecy of Israel acting as “a light for the nations” in action, spreading universal compassion, community and life-saving technology where and when it is needed most.
It’s impossible not to be inspired. A doctor in the room, non-Jewish, donated a rapid response ebike. Even my daughter, Raquel, gearing up for her bat mitzvah, committed to a crowdsourced fundraiser for three life-saving oxygen kits – to contribute towards her UH Maple Syrup and Mitzvahs project, which is raising funds for both the oxygen kits and two child-resuscitation kits, visit tinyurl.com/55ur7fm7.
To become a United Hatzalah partner and learn more, visit UH’s website, israelrescue.org.
Robin Esrock is the bestselling author of The Great Canadian Bucket List, and a travel columnist for Canadian Geographic.