Orthodox women denied all-female ambulance in Brooklyn
A 14-vote majority of the regional EMS Council was necessary to either pass or reject the motion properly; several male council members from Hatzalah abstained.
By TAMAR URIEL-BEERIAn ambulance departs the Tree of Life synagogue following shooting at the synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, October 27, 2018(photo credit: JOHN ALTDORFER/REUTERS)
A group of women who wished to form a female Orthodox Jewish paramedic group in Brooklyn were rejected on Tuesday.The women, part of an organization called Ezras Nashim (Women's Helpers/Section), wanted to operate an ambulance to serve Orthodox women in Brooklyn's religious neighborhoods.The vote was taken up with the Regional Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Council of New York City. Half of the council members present at the vote – 16 to be exact – voted against an all-women EMS ambulance. Seven voted for it and one abstained – four Hatzalah members voted against it. Another two council members were absent, according to The New York Daily News.A 14-vote majority is necessary to either pass or reject the motion properly, so the Albany State Council will be the ultimate deciding group on the subject.The motion was opposed by several rabbis and the all-male Hatzalah EMS. They claimed that "Having two ambulance services covering the same area would be confusing," according to the Daily News.Ezras Nashim lawyer Jim Dering told NY1 that “They don’t want women to join, [but] at the same time they don’t want women to have their own ambulance company. So that’s something that I don’t understand."The group's director of outreach and development claimed that the vote was biased because other board members were in some way "affiliated" with Hatzalah."How can anyone be opposed to women helping women in times when they're most vulnerable?" she asked. "Our women need us and are pleading with us not to give up."
