I am a Hatzalah Dispatcher -- AMA

busydev

Tue, Apr 23 2013, 4:57 pm

how often do I hear your voice over the radio of my colleague? Very Happy

Do you call the ambulance or is the person who calls hatzalah supposed to do that?

How much training did you have to have?

Do you work from your house or go down to the main office?

OOTBubby

Tue, Apr 23 2013, 5:03 pm

busydev wrote:

how often do I hear your voice over the radio of my colleague? Very Happy

I dispatch 4-6 times weekly for 2-3 (occasionally 4) hours each time. I'd say on the average, I dispatch a call once a week, but some times more and sometimes less. Since I know you're in the same city, if you're hearing a dispatcher on the radio during the day it could be me.

busydev wrote:

Do you call the ambulance or is the person who calls hatzalah supposed to do that?

In our city, Hatzalah does not yet have it's own ambulances (hopefully that will change soon) and we are only first responders. Since we are very local and will get to any place in the frum neighborhoods quickly, the caller should first call Hatzalah and we will then call the municipal EMS for them.

busydev wrote:

How much training did you have to have?

I didn't get a lot of training before I started. I was not in the original group of dispatchers who went through formal training and certification (which is not required). I was trained in a couple of sessions with a coordinator, and then got most of my training by listening to other calls of the radio (which is my home office).

busydev wrote:

Do you work from your house or go down to the main office?

In our city, there are 18 radio bases; 13 in homes; 1 in the main office; 2 in business offices. Mine is in my home. I have a home based business which is where the Hatzalah radio is located.

OOTBubby

Tue, Apr 23 2013, 5:05 pm

chocolate chips wrote:

There was a guy I dated from London and when I went to meet his parents first, they are dispatchers of hatzalah and the entire way through the "meeting" the radio was going.

That could certainly happen. In our city, we have only been running for less than a year and a half and aren't yet that busy. At present we have around 1-2 calls daily; occasionally more; sometimes none.

And, BTW, I've spelled it Hatzalah which is how it is spelled in our organization -- in the NY area, they use the Hatzolah spelling (don't know why the difference).