Rabbi Zalman Liberow of Flatbush, who was badly injured in a tragic accident last month (as reported here and here), was discharged Tuesday from UPMC Presbyterian Hospital in Pittsburgh, PA, to a rehabilitation center in Brooklyn.
While he overcame some setbacks in his health this past week, other challenges arose when a blizzard began to rage, with icy conditions making the roads too treacherous to attempt.
The 300 mile trip in an ambulette was cancelled, leaving the family devastated that their father would be stranded until after the weekend, at the very earliest, when another attempt at transport could be made.
A Liberow relative reported the disappointing news to Bikur Cholim of Crown Heights, a medical relief organization that has been helping the family since the tragic accident which also killed their son Avrohom Dovid z”l.
Bikur Cholim coordinators immediately kicked into action and within an hour, a midsize jet was en route to Pittsburgh to pick up Rabbi Liberow.
Together with the emergency coordinators at Vital One, Bikur Cholim was able to secure an air ambulance with all the capabilities of an ICU on board for Rabbi Liberow’s trip, making the 35 minute flight safer and more comfortable than a 7 hour drive could ever have been.
Within 4 hours of the initial phone call to Bikur Cholim, Rabbi Liberow had safely landed in Teeterboro airport, where members of Crown Heights Hatzalah and the necessary team of EMTs and medics met the plane and took over the last leg of the trip.
They drove him to the Haym Solomon nursing and rehabilitation center in Brooklyn where he will continue his treatment and be reunited with his family and congregation.
“We will go to any lengths to make a patient more comfortable and their family’s life easier,” a Bikur Cholim coordinator told COLlive.com, “even if it means sending a jet on a moment’s notice in brutal weather conditions.”
A grateful family member said: “Bikur Cholim’s assistance has been, and continues to be, incredible.”
The family also told COLlive.com they encourage visitors, but asked to coordinate their visit with his son Levi Liberow at 917-957-0260.
{COLlive.com/Noam Amdurski-Matzav.com Newscenter}
