Goldsteins Host Innovations in Saving Lives
On Dec. 11, Carrla and Jeff Goldstein hosted heroic members of the United Hatzalah in their home, which provides free rapid emergency response in Israel.
After 37 years with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and now with the AJT, , Jaffe’s focus is lifestyle, art, dining, fashion, and community events with emphasis on Jewish movers and shakers.
Each day we get increasingly inspired by Israel’s example of Tikkun Olam.
On Dec. 11, mega hosts Carrla and Jeff Goldstein featured at their Sandy Spring home heroic members of the United Hatzalah, which provides free rapid emergency response in Israel.
UH responds to 1,000 emergency calls throughout Israel every day, 365 days a year. The average response time is three minutes. When volunteers respond by ambucycle, traditional ambulance response time for navigating traffic is drastically reduced.
Dr. Paul Scheinberg spoke at the informational evening about his personal experience in 2018 traveling en route to Israel. “While over the ocean, maybe over Ireland, I was experiencing chest pains. Making the decision not to land the plane, I wanted to get to Israel, where I knew people and could get the best care (wise decision or not). United Hatzalah was there for me, and tonight I plan to donate a defibrillator to help others.”
Teenager Gabe Jack Stein, in his orange UH jacket, commanded the stage when speaking about raising $65,000 in bar mitzvah donations in 2016 to fund an ambucycle. The Howard School student said, “I sleep well at night knowing that part of me and my late 4-year-old cousin – in whose memory I raised the money –[as a volunteer cyclist] is riding around Israel saving lives. I even get emails showing the daily activity of my cycle.”
Eli Beer, UH founder and president, has received numerous awards for this mega project he started in 2010, among them, the Schwab Foundation and the World Economic Forum award. He has combined a GPS dispatch system, ambucycles and a cadre of thousands of volunteers to make a difference through innovation, sustainability, reach and social impact.
The video Beer showed declared “Consider us like a free Uber. The difference between life and death can be three minutes. We are ‘politics free’ with over 3.5 million lives saved by 5,000 volunteer medics. Here you see an ultra-Orthodox volunteer serving alongside a Muslim.”
Gavriel Friedson, deputy director of international operations of UH, moved to Israel from Florida at age 10, where he became fascinated with emergency medicine. “I was the only kid who was taken to school in a fire truck and picked up by an ambulance.” The youngest ambucycle medic, he is proud that UH “is not station-based, but community-based.”
Beer became fascinated with EMT services and the passion to save lives as a young teen. You have to be officially meshugana to do this, … to be called at any second and leave your work or family. Israelis invented chutzpah, … and initially, when the ambulance authorities dismissed my idea to monitor/share their calls, I had to develop a walkie talkie system to hook in. … Atlanta is one of our best cities because Atlanta loves Israel. We need $35,000 for each cycle and $2,500 for each defibrillator. Right now there is an imbalance, as we have only 1,900 defibrillators per 5000 medics.”
To expand the UH model, Beer travels to Vancouver, Brazil, Panama, Lithuania, Ukraine, India and the United Kingdom. Next is Uganda. Beer said, “That’s pretty ironic considering what happened there at the Entebbe massacre. … One of my next goals is New York City.”
Beer ended the evening by presenting a silver dreidel to the Goldsteins for their 19 years of contributions and service.
To learn more and contribute, go to www.IsraelRescue.org.
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