A medical emergency can be frightening no matter what the circumstances, but female members of the Hasidic community have extra concerns when they’re in need of immediate assistance. Though the Jewish law of pikuach nefesh deems it religiously acceptable for a man to tend to a woman in an emergency since saving a life takes precedence over anything else, the patient still might be concerned about the rules of tznius, which refers to a wide swath of Jewish customs related to modesty and separation of the genders. Aside from the issue of religious observance, it can be personally embarrassing for an observant woman, who has been separated from men most of her life, to find her room filled with male EMTs–many of whom might be her neighbors and members of her community–when she’s in a physically and emotionally vulnerable position, such as going into labor.
Starting next month, after more than two years of planning, training, and fundraising, those concerns will be alleviated in the Orthodox enclave of Boro Park, Brooklyn. Now when those women call for medical assistance, they’ll be treated by Ezras Nashim, a corps of more than 20 EMT-certified Orthodox women on call to respond to their emergencies.
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From Tablet Magazine
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