In a moving ceremony, the city’s first mini-lance electric emergency medical services car was inaugurated in Petach Tikvah on Tuesday. The emergency vehicle, which will permanently reside in Petach Tikvah, will be a large addition to the emergency services offered to the residents of the city by the volunteers of United Hatzalah.
The new vehicle joins the other 11 recently inaugurated emergency vehicles that were put on the road by United Hatzalah in the last month. This fleet includes ambulances, mobile intensive care units, and mini-lances. In addition to the ambulances and ambulance style vehicles, United Hatzalah has a fleet of close to 700 ambucycles that are spread across the country, of which 25 serve in the city of Petach Tikvah and provide all citizens with free emergency medical care.
The new mini-lance was inaugurated in memory of Rabbi David Schiff by members of his family. Honoring the event was the Chief Rabbi of Petach Tikvah Rabbi Michah Halevi. In his speech, he spoke about Rabbi Schiff and said: “The world is built on charity and charitable actions, saving lives is the perpetuation of life and the building of the world. United Hatzalah is involved in this world-building work and there is no doubt that its volunteers in Petach Tikvah will now be able to save more lives thanks to this mini-lance.”
Vice President of United Hatzalah Eli Pollack said: “As of 2018 there are now more than 5,000 volunteers working with United Hatzalah’s national network of life-saving. In Petach Tikvah alone we have 75 EMS volunteers as well as numerous volunteers in the Ten Kavod and Psychotrauma projects. In the near future, another 30 EMTs will be joining the Petach Tikvah family. I would like to thank the donors who donated this vehicle and have now made a large impact on the number of lives that can be saved in this city.”
Chapter head of United Hatzalah in Petach Tikvah Avi Meara said: “I am very emotional, standing in front of you here tonight and inaugurating this new vehicle. This is a generous act and one that will be meaningful to so many people who are helped because our volunteers will be able to arrive at emergencies faster thanks to this vehicle. I want to extend my thanks, and the thanks of the entire organization to the family who donated this tremendous gift in order to enable us to help save lives faster in our beloved city.”
