Community Volunteers Cooperate to Transport Elderly and Disabled to their Vaccinations During Lockdown

United Hatzalah has partnered with the group Yad Beyad for the Development of Mevaseret Zion, a non-profit, in a new project transporting people over 60 and the disabled who qualify to receive the Coronavirus vaccine, in cases when their access is limited due to the lockdown.

Qualified individuals should call one of several local organizers who will arrange for them a ride with a United Hatzalah EMT, who will, in turn, pick up and drive the person in their private vehicle to the vaccination station, assist them with registration, and drive them home after they received their vaccination.

United Hatzalah Mevaseret Region Chapter Head said: “As the lockdown began we recognized there are many senior citizens and disabled people in the city and the surrounding area who cannot easily use public transportation. These people are in the first grouping of those who qualify to receive their Coronavirus vaccines, but many of them simply cannot get to the stations. Thanks to Yad BeYad, we have been able to contact these people and are working together to make sure that they can all get to the vaccination centers in Jerusalem in time for their appointments. This is another one of the many community services that our volunteers provide every day to the residents of the city and the surrounding area.”

The project has already received a high volume of requests, and hundreds of individuals are expected to use the service in the next two weeks, while the lockdown is on.

President and Founder of United Hatzalah Eli Beer said: “This is a terrific program and it came from the volunteers in the field who recognized a problem and worked together with a local organization to solve it. This is exactly what the volunteers of United Hatzalah are so successful at doing: working within the community to help build resilience and provide free services to their neighbors.”