Events

As COVID hit hard throughout the Orthodox Jewish community in early 2020, the neighborhood Hatzalah groups were significantly impacted by the amount and the severity of the cases to which they needed to respond. Hospitals were overcrowded, supplies were low, and emergency and healthcare workers were committing suicide to escape the feelings of helplessness, sadness, and dispair. Hatzalah leadership teams contacted AOJP to discuss concerns they had regarding the mental health of their volunteer workers. Together they decided to create a crisis support line for Hatzalah volunteers and their families, staffed by volunteers from AOJP. 

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Dr. Eli Felt, who is also a Hatzalah paramedic, helped organize and liaise with Hatzalah, and Dr. Moshe Moeller developed and supervised the project. Interested AOJP members completed a Mental Health First Aid course, and the hotline and processes were set up within 2 weeks. A total of 68 AOJP members volunteered to provide support for this initiative. Graduate students were responsible for data collection and daily logistics, and Dr. Sarah Immerman provided oversight and coordinated all administrative tasks for the hotline. Postdocs and psychologists were responsible to be “on-call” during their respective shift hours to answer the phone calls and to be available for supervision and consultation. This initiative helped Hatzalah members and their families across New York City, Monsey, and Chicago, and the total time spent on crisis phone calls was close to 200 minutes. Callers indicated several reasons for calling, including anxiety, COVID-related deaths, depression, family-related issues, general stress, OCD, “just to vent,” trauma, guilt/resentment, marital conflict, and Hakoras Hatov, and referrals were provided when requested. 

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Although this initiative only spanned a few months during the height of the pandemic, we felt inspired and hopeful by being able to provide support for the greater Orthodox Jewish community. The group effort and collective volunteerism helped solidify AOJP comradery and connectedness of the members, paving the way for more events and future projects.