Emergency appeal to replace ambulances destroyed in arson attack

[ashleysilver]

Emergency fundraiser to replace the ambulances and equipment that were destroyed in the antisemitic arson attack in north west London on 23 October. Hatzola Northwest Trust, charity registration number 1041441

Hatzola’s responders are there for everyone -day and night- providing critical, lifesaving care without hesitation and without charge.

www.charityextra.com/hatzola-emergency/

The government have announced they will pay to replace the four ambulances.

I think the title is unfortunately misleading . . . the donations requested on the link are for 5 million pounds to provide secure premises for ambulances

Let's hope they will be able to achieve this ~ they've already got the first million. An amazing response in just a few hours

Also, the attack happened in the early hours of this morning, not October as stated by the PP

You are being deliberate misleading here. Hatzola are not available for everyone.

As a healthcare professional in an area with a large Jewish population and hatzola facilities.

The general population do not have access to hatzola services, if you want to use the service you need to know how to contact them. The contact details are not available to everyone.

I have spoken with a Jewish representative about having contact details and was told “if you need to use our service you will know how to contact us” quoted verbatim.

So in truth rightly or wrongly hatzola is funded by and used by the Jewish community. Please do not try to be ambiguous and pretend anyone outside the Jewish community has access to use these services.

I don’t live in London. Why is there a charity running an ambulance service?

Charities running ambulance services is not just something that happens in London. There are many ambulance charities. The most famous ones are St John ambulances and British Red Cross. The air ambulances in England and Wales are all run by charities.

Are they there for everyone or is it as the pp said? Also, did they not have insurance? And is it true the government has said they will replace the ambulances?
I just want to understand before I donate to a cause

The government have definitively said they will pay to replace the ambulances lost. I am unsure on the inclusion of the service to all and would assume if a registered charity they would have to be adequately insured, for example British Friends of United Hatzalah reports specifically list insurance as a cost covered by donations.

Yeah it's not correct that any member of the public can use them.
I do hope they get them replaced and securely housed soon though.

Don’t St John’s ambulance provide first aid training and attend events. You have to pay for a St John’s ambulance to come to your event.

I don’t think you can call the Red Cross or St John’s ambulance for medical help can you?

I don't know much about what services those charities provide or how they work. You asked why a charity was providing ambulance services and implied it is particular to London. I gave examples of other ambulance charities to show there are many such charities and they are not confined to London.

I started the thread to give the link for people who want to make a donation to Hatzola following the arson attack. If you don't want to make a donation, that's completely fine.

I want implying that it was particular to London, I was asking what it was because I didn’t know that a charity ambulance service existed. I’ve been on the website now and I’ve found out about it.

This is a talk forum, people are allowed to ask questions but like I said I’ve read up on it now so I know what it is.

Obviously I already know that if I don’t want to make a donation that it’s completely fine.

Is this a regional difference perhaps? The North London hatzola has its contact number on its website. They are quoted by CNN in the arson reports saying they serve anyone, and the front page of today’s Metro is an Iranian family whose baby they helped save.

I’ve no personal experience of hatzola, but have always understood that it’s not restricted, as a general principle globally (eg on their Wikipedia),

Is that not in fact the case?

The contact number is listed as non-emergency. So presumably not for accessing an ambulance.

Why are the NHS replacing them if it's a private service? If I had a village ambulance just for the villagers and it was set light to I wouldn't expect the NHS to replace it . It's awful that's it's happened but I am a bit... surprised

The presence of the charity ambulances probably saves the NHS money, and frees up NHS ambulances.

I used to work in A&E in North London and we'd often get Hatzola ambulances coming in. I might be wrong, but thought they only attended non-Jews if they were a category 1 emergency (not breathing/CPR needed) and Hatzola happened to be the nearest crew. So yes, they will treat 'everyone', but only under very specific conditions.

This was a few years ago, so maybe things have changed?

That's why I wasn't 100% certain what the deal was. As their media has been very clear it's open to all (and in NYC it certainly is), which the Metro story tends to support.

If that's not in fact true then it's awful for hatzola to misrepresent themselves. And if it is in fact true then it's really bad for pp to undermine it in the very blanket terms she did ("Please do not... pretend anyone outside the Jewish community has access to use these services").

I also thought the Government had pledged to replace them 🤔 and yes presumably there was insurance? Not being funny but what is the fund raising for?

Because there always have been. Have you heard of St John ambulance?

I actually came on to see if anyone knew where I could donate. I liked the idea of contributing to a specific smaller charity-but I now have concerns about how inclusive the service is or isn’t. I do find the “if you need us you will know bow to contact us” line a little troubling.

The link provided by OP says they are trying to raise 5 million pounds for secure premises for the ambulances.

My understanding as a Jewish woman is that the Hatzola is for everyone regardless of faith. There are testimonials from non Jews helped including a 70 year old non Jewish man who was helped following a nasty fall resulting in a broken leg. In Judaism the saving of a life is everything. If we save one person it's as if we saved all mankind and if we take one life it's as if we killed all mankind.
Off topic maybe but next week I'm attending a Seder in a friend's home. He has informed the police and they will be patrolling the area over Pesach. We have security patrolling synagogues and Jewish schools and centres..

The telephone number is not secret and they help everyone.

They bring a lot of patients to NW London hospitals - both Jewish and not Jewish. I meet them every day.

Where is it available?