Remember the lists of numbers on the Jewish-manufactured breakfast cereal boxes to call in case of emergency? Now there’s a single number to memorize: 1-888-9911-613.
The number reaches an automated hotline that asks the caller to identify the city where help is needed, and then which Jewish volunteer organization to be connected with, COL livereports.
Its creators, identified as an independent organization called OneCall, said the hotline currently reaches every chapter of Hatzalah (medical emergencies) and Chaverim (non-medical emergencies at home or on the road) in North America.
While they didn’t provide a full list of the locations they connect to, an email from OneCall said: “Searching for a city can be done via voice. For now, we are sticking to city names, such as Los Angeles or Boca Raton, as opposed to La Brea or The Circle. As our searching and matching algorithm is enhanced, there will be more ways to find your location.”
For New York City, specific neighborhoods can be requested. “We also support many area aliases. For example, Passaic or Clifton return the same entry,” they said.
“OneCall strongly encourages everyone to memorize their local emergency numbers,” they wrote in an email. “This beta service seeks to fill the gap for those who need to call and do not have time to search for a local number. OneCall absolutely is very much in favor of utilizing your local organization numbers, and provides a service to complement the existing individual hotlines.”
They said that individual chapters of Chaverim and Hatzalah that have been in touch with OneCall “only had supportive feedback,” and that they plan on connecting additional community support organizations, such as Shomrim, Shmira, Chevra Kadisha, and more.
In case of emergency, you should call your local Hatzala to avoid the extra delay of having to talk to two separate dispatchers and your call being relayed to the local Hatzala…
It’s sound like an automated system that forwards the call
It’s not a dispatcher
There’s an app that automatically senses your location, finds the number of the local Hatzalah chapter, dials for you when you click call, and transmits your location information to the dispatcher. All you have to do is open the app and press “Call Hatzalah”. (I can’t personally vouch for it – I haven’t used it BH.) The app is called Hatzalah Global. If you have a smartphone anyways, it’s worth installing in case of emergency Ch’v.
What’s their website?
The internet is assur.
spoken by the Kleineh kup
What an amazing idea!!
Great. Can we get sports scores on the hotline as well?