By Rachel Engel
BROOKLYN — An all-female EMS group serving an Orthodox Jewish community recently acquired their first ambulance.
Ezras Nashim, an EMS organization comprised entirely of females, was able to purchase an ambulance and a stretcher worth $150,000 through donations, CBS 2 reported.
“We finally grew from such a small group to something so big, you know, to have our first ambulance on the streets,” Emanual Rabaev, an Ezras Nashim volunteer, told CBS. “It got busier.”
The group was formed after discovering that many women in the Orthodox Jewish community would prefer to receive an emergency response call from another female. However, the all-male volunteer corps Hatzalah, which has served the area for 50 years, does not allow females to join.
“In an emergency situation, and I’m sitting there undressed, or I need to – whatever it is, I don’t want a man there. No, I don’t feel comfortable with that,” Chani Richter, a former patient, told CBS. “That’s not my choice”
The group plans to have the ambulance ready to serve the community in the next few weeks.