Check out how http://hatzolahofla.org/ is the most amazing emergency response team in our community. We recently had an attack on two men that were dressed as obviously orthodox Jews, and the video of the car driving away is in the video above, and also there was a fire in the neighborhood, and this was the description below of how efficiently Hatzola responded:
3 am and at least a dozen fire trucks barreling down west Pico (ridiculous that I’m at my desk instead of sleeping). I called the West LA police department and they didn’t know anything. I called the LA police department and they didn’t know anything. Each told me to try the fire department. I called 2 fire departments and got voice mails asking me to leave message and telling me their hours of operation – what? Another 4-5 fire trucks passed by (this has been going on for more than 30 minutes now). I’m thinking something very serious may be happening and I need to be informed, but I gotta get the info without leaving (Chaim is asleep upstairs so I’m chained). So I called Haztolah, and a guy answered before the 2nd ring and with seriousness said, “what’s your location?” I told him who I was and why I was calling, and he told me the address of the fire and suggested a mobile app to monitor emergency bands and receive real time updates. Boom! Within 30 seconds I got from Hatzolah more than I was unable to get from the PD and FD in 30 minutes. I downloaded the app and it worked. I’m blown away by the efficiency, speed and quality of Hatzolah (I always misspell it, though and that’s annoying) a Jewish organization, compared to secular emergency services. When they respond they don’t ask “are you Jewish?” It’s really exceptional and I wonder why it’s not the standard everywhere. I’d love to produce a high quality 90 minute documentary about the degradation of US emergency response highlighting Haztolah as a non-profit organization that can be an example of what the standard should be. I’m not talking Michael Moore-ish liberal melodrama, or that goofball who ate Big Mac for a month – I’d like to see this done more like Hurt Locker narrated. I’m going back to work now.
Of course Los Angeles is huge, and probably 911 gets non emergency calls all of the time. Even I had an experience of a suspicious bag in front of my house, and before the police came we figured out who it belonged to. We also have Shmira Patrol, http://www.shmirala.com/, keeping an eye and protecting our community.
The event above was organized by the Executive Director of Hatzola in Los Angeles, Michoel Bloom to educate our community about safety, bringing fire, police, and bomb squad, which you see above with my son loving it the most. This kids had a blast, there was even a school bus with desks that showed a video about safety during an earthquake, and then was like a ride shaking everybody inside for a few seconds.
THANK YOU HATZOLA AND SHMIRA!
Coach Yulia