Sometimes responding to an emergency takes more than a few minutes to reach the scene, and even longer to resolve. Sometimes responding to a call means packing an overnight bag, leaving your family behind, boarding a plane, and traveling hundreds of miles from home to help someone in need.
For five United Hatzalah volunteers, this Sukkot will be spent on the slopes of Mount Olympus in Greece. That is because they have gone there to help rescue Ami Yogev, the 46-year-old Israeli from Modiin, who has been missing on Mount Olympus since September 20.
For these five United Hatzalah volunteers, the decision to go was never really a question. You simply pack your bags.
It might sound like a cliché to some, but it is an ordinary response with an extraordinary mission that is the core value for the men and women who volunteer with United Hatzalah.
Yossi Amar, David Krispil, Rotem Sadeh, Boaz Tzarfati and Liad Ohana are now in Greece with some of the organization’s most advanced drone equipment to assist local Greek Search and Rescue efforts. They bring along specialized equipment including thermal imaging, nighttime search capabilities, and communications equipment designed to operate in remote terrain.
Delegation leader Yossi Amar said, “My wife packed my bags because she too knows what the mission is all about. She is a United Hatzalah volunteer herself. She understands why we are going and what we are hoping to accomplish. It is about saving a life.”
Even with all the advanced Search and Rescue equipment they have taken to Greece, the real value of the mission lies with the people operating it.
“The fact that we were contacted and asked to assist is the best proof that we are bringing not only equipment, but also experience and capabilities,” one member of the delegation said as the team boarded the plane to Greece.
The five volunteers have spent years searching for missing people, managing complex emergencies and working in situations where every decision can determine where rescuers look next.
Some members have deployed on previous relief missions following earthquakes and other disasters around the world. Others have spent years developing and operating the drone and communications systems used in searches across Israel.
All five members are united by one goal.
“We are doing everything we can to help find Ami quickly and bring him back to his family.”
Ami Yogev’s family is waiting. Search teams in Greece have been trying to locate him across challenging mountain terrain.
Equipment and experience matter enormously in a search like this. But the delegation also includes someone who knows the terrain firsthand.
Approximately one year ago, United Hatzalah volunteer Rotem Sadeh climbed Mount Olympus and completed the very trail now at the center of the search for Ami.
He remembers the terrain. He knows how the paths feel underfoot. He understands how quickly the landscape can become difficult, how the mountain opens in some places and closes in around you in others, and where a search from the air may reveal something that a search on foot cannot.
For the members of the delegation and organization alike, the sense of responsibility is personal. United Hatzalah is built around the idea that when someone needs help, you go. Most of the time, that means rushing from home to a traffic accident, a cardiac arrest, or a medical emergency a few streets away.
This time, it means Mount Olympus.
Take an active role in helping someone in need: click here and donate to the My Mitzvah campaign to bring Ami home.
