Hasidic Jewish volunteers run groundbreaking all-female EMT crew based in Borough Park
BOROUGH PARK, Brooklyn (WABC) -- An all-women group of EMT's in Brooklyn are breaking a glass ceiling - but not the one you think.
Dressed in purple and ready to save lives are the Hasidic Jewish women who run Ezras Nashim, an all-female volunteer EMT crew based in Borough Park, Brooklyn.
"Some people don't realize, is that sometimes women are so embarrassed, so uncomfortable to have men come to see them when they're in a vulnerable situation that they won't even call for help," said the COO of Ezras Nashim, Leah Freier-Levine.
Freier-Levine is the COO, her mother Rachel Freier, who also happens to be the first Hasidic female New York Supreme Court judge, is the founder of Ezras Nashim.
They have been serving their community since 2014, but just got city approval to become Advanced Life Support certified, and plan to grow their fleet from one purple ambulance, to two, expanding their footprint to other Brooklyn neighborhoods.
For the medical team, this work is a true mitzvah.
"I have a passion and not only me, all our first responders, special women who will go above and beyond to help everybody, each patient," said EMT Dalya Spiegel.
Volunteer emergency medical services are common in large Jewish communities, but until Ezras Nashim, which means "helping women" in Hebrew, they were all run and operated by men.
Judge Freier never thought it would be possible to begin, let alone expand.
"They told me that women weren't capable, fast enough, smart enough, strong enough to be EMTs," Rachel Freier said. "And I said, 'really... if God wants it to happen, it will happen.'"
While Ezras Nashim does have the approval to expand, the ladies still need to get the funding to actually get the new ambulance. The entire operation is donations based.
In the meantime, the 50 volunteers will still be on-call 24/7 for the women, or anyone else who needs them.
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