United Hatzalah’s leadership, staff and thousands of volunteers are mourning the loss of one of the organizations greatest friends and supporters, Irving Moskowitz – may his memory be a blessing . It says in the Talmud ‘He who saves a life it is as if he saves an entire world.’ Irving was a man who helped save many lives and many worlds. Thanks to the generosity of the Irving and Cherna Moskowitz foundation, United Hatzalah was able to launch The Moskowitz Life Compass System, one of the core pieces of United Hatzalah’s GPS lifesaving technology that allows our organization to dispatch the closest volunteer medic to each emergency.
“United Hatzalah bows its head in mourning but raises its hands in commitment to continue the work he has started. Over 1,000,000 rescue calls have been responded to by United Hatzalah medics through the technology he helped launch and millions more will continue to be served and saved,” said United Hatzalah’s Founder and President Eli Beer.
The Moskowitz Life Compass System allows United Hatzalah of Israel’s call center to constantly monitor the location of every United Hatzalah volunteer in the country and to send them out based on four criteria. 1) Who is closest, geographically, to the scene; 2) Who has the highest level of training, based on the emergency at hand (many United Hatzalah volunteers are MDs and specialists in addition to being trained EMTs); 3) Who has the best equipment for that particular emergency (i.e. a defibrillator for a heart attack victim, a burn kit for a burn victim); 4) How is the volunteer traveling; by foot, by car or ambucycle (These ambulance-motorcycle hybrids have the fastest response times, because they can weave in and out of heavy traffic.)”
Irving Moskowitz was born in New York City in 1929. He was the ninth child of Jewish immigrants from Poland and it was reported that he lost 120 relatives in the Holocaust. He is survived by his wife Cherna and his children.
“Irving was an example for every Jew how to take pride in Israel, in Jerusalem and the Jewish People. His example of personal selflessness, humility and vision touched me and the lives of countless others and he will forever be missed,” Beer concluded.
