Hatzalah of Newark Saves Lives with Volunteer-Powered EMS Connected on Zello

Hatzalah is the largest all-volunteer ambulance service in the US. Although the organization has special skills to serve the Jewish community, it also provides premium quality pre-hospital emergency medical treatment and medical transportation at no cost to all who need it, regardless of race, religion or ethnicity.

Since 1965, Hatzalah of Newark has provided emergency service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year. Communication in emergency response situations is key to saving lives. The quicker the response, the greater the chance for survival. This is especially true in densely populated areas such as New Jersey. While the average emergency response time in the US is 15 minutes, Haztalah aims to respond in just two minutes.

Because Zello provides its premium version free of charge through its First Responder Program, Hatzalah of Newark has benefited from the crystal clear, instantaneous voice communication. Using Zello push-to-talk has helped this volunteer organization respond to many calls where life and limb were in jeopardy.

CEO of ParaFlight EMS and OrganFlights Sim Shain said “For Hatzalah Statewide, we needed a radio system that works over the internet. Zello works perfectly for us because we can expand and broaden our network anywhere. Yesterday I was flying to Houston and I could communicate with our team from 35,000 feet, which is something I could never do otherwise.” Zello’s customizable channels allows users to remotely create unlimited channels with up to 10,000 connected users at a time. Our unique crosslink feature also extends communications to other organizations utilizing Zello Work, expanding the reach of critical efforts.

Hatzalah founder and CEO Nathan Zemel, M.D. said, “the reception is generally excellent for our responders. Also, our dispatchers dispatch wherever they are without having to sit at a dispatch console.” Zello’s Dispatch Hub helps to prioritize calls based on urgency and allows dispatchers to transfer messages to the best person to handle the issue.

Zemel hears many stories about how Zello helps Hatzalah save lives. “A 10-year-old known asthmatic male was taken by his mother to the Poconos, PA. He had an acute asthmatic attack and was in severe respiratory distress. Essentially, he was dying in front of his mother’s eyes. The call came to our dispatchers and was immediately put out. As fate would have it, we had a responder on scene with Albuterol in under one minute. We have helped many people in distress and saved some lives along the way with this advanced communication system,” said Zemel.

Zello is privileged to partner with first responders who impact the world. “Every day we use Zello to save lives,” said Shain.