In January 2014 an announcement that has been in the pipeline for a long time was finally made by the
Health Minister: As of 31 December 2014 the course format to become qualified as a pre-hospital
emergency medic would change considerably, making it impossible to do the course on a part-time
basis. This would mean members of the community wishing to join the organisation in future would
have difficulty qualifying unless theywere able to commit to a full time course.
A decision was therefore made to embark on a drive to promote and encourage new volunteers to
undergo the training, still currently available and join Hatzolah. After months of work and countless
interviews a group of sixteen people were selected to be part of the BAA course and to ultimately join
st
Hatzolah as volunteer responders. On the 1 May 2014 our BAA course commencedwith a group of keen
individualswhowere excited at the prospect of becoming a part of this great organisation.
The course was run by Hatzolah under the auspices of COJEMS, a provincial training centre for
emergency personnel.
The lecture team headed by Shaun Spruch and supported by Hilly Reuben, Lennie Glasser and Uriel
Rosen, all full time employees of Hatzolah Medical Rescue. The course comprises of a theoretical
component where various areas of anatomy and physiology are taught specifically relating to
emergency situations that may arise while working on the road. There was also a major focus on patient
simulations in a controlled environment, allowing the students to put into practice the theory that they
have been taught on their course.
On successful completion of the exams, candidates were registered with the Health Professions Council
of SouthAfrica (HPCSA) and on 24August their exciting journey into pre-hospital emergency care began.
Additionally, Hatzolah has just completed another successful dispatchers training course. The role of the
dispatcher in the organisation cannot be overstated as he or she is the heartbeat and first point of
reference to both the patient and the responder.
The dispatcher needs to be both emotionally calm and at ease when handling the call, and sufficiently
savvy to take all the necessary details from a usually frantic caller in order to get the responder to the
scene with all the correct information. Uriel Rosen ran the dispatchers course with six successful
candidates. Apart from the obvious efficiency required, potential dispatchers needed to become
familiar with the hi-tech digital transmission system, newly-installed at Hatzolah South Africa. Each
dispatcher uses a Samsung tablet, where all information is collated through the specifically designed
app, and transmitted into themain system. This data then links directly to all records Hatzolah has on file
for each patient, so that responders can access this imperative information at the click of a button.
Hatzolah Graduates
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