London – Jewish ambulance service Hatzola took representatives from the emergency services on a trip to concentration camps in Poland this week
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The Stamford Hill-based service invited three police officers, four members of London Ambulance Service and four doctors from Homerton Hospital on Homerton Row to the Auschwitz – Birkenau camps.
The trip was partly to say thanks to the emergency services for its support and also to raise awareness of Jewish culture.
Hatzola ambulance technician Chunni Kahan, 45, who co-ordinated the visit, said: “We thought it would be a nice idea to take some people out there.”
“It was an eye opening and educational experience and at the same time very moving as my grandparents perished there at Auschwitz.”
The trip was sponsored by Hatzola, which in turn is funded by the Jewish community to provide emergency treatment.
“We are the front line first response to medical emergencies within the community”, Mr Kahan, who lives in Stamford Hill, explained.
“We deal with anything from a cut finger to a road traffic accident. The community calls us rather than 999.”
A spokeswoman for Homerton Hospital’s A&E team said: “We hope that it will allow us to develop a better understanding of the Orthodox Jewish community and their needs”, she added. [london24]