The United Hatzalah emergency medical services organization has just put into use the world's first narrow electric car, fully equipped with an automatic defibrillator and all other necessary equipment, to reach the sick and injured in spots impossible to access with other wheeled vehicles. UH president and founder Eli Beer said that the $45,000 vehicles, dubbed the mini-lance, can even get up stairs and over narrow sidewalks and streets. The first four cars, purchased with donations, have been places in cities around the country and can also be driven by disabled volunteers who are unable to mount UH ambucycles and bicycles to give first aid. Revealed to The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday in a three-hour interview, the mini-lance was found to be totally quiet, with room for two persons, and economical because it runs solely on electric power. The organization, which now has nearly 4,000 volunteers who provide absolutely free service, also has tractors that bring emergency medical technicians to those needing help in off-road locations and other difficult locations. A first intensive-care ambulance, which is like a mobile intensive care unit, has also been purchased by Beer's family in memory of his cousin, Alan Beer, who was murdered some 14 years ago in a terrorist attack in Jerusalem. A month ago, UH completed a massive, $18 million renovation and purchase of a nearly half-century-old building at 78 Yirmiyahu Street in Jerusalem that has been its headquarters for 26 years. While UH began with only 100 square meters of space, it has dug into solid rock and expanded to have 3,000 square meters for its rescue and education efforts. The Jerusalem Municipality has also given permission for it to eventually to add four more stories. UH has treated 2.5 million people in the last quarter-century, around 300,000 per year, or 900 to 1,000 a day, all at no cost to the patient. A Health Page feature on United Hatzalah and Eli Beer will appear on Sunday, October 15.
