A Q&A WITH FOUNDER ELI ROWE
CAPTAIN ELI ROWE, BASC, EMT-P, IS A VERY IMPRESSIVE, LICENSED COMMERCIAL PILOT, HIGHLY-EXPERIENCED PARAMEDIC, AND THE FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT OF HATZOLAH AIR. HIS ENERGY AND PASSION FOR EMERGENCY MEDICINE AND HESED ARE APPARENT, INFECTIOUS, AND HAVE HELPED HIM BUILD HATZOLAH AIR FROM AN IDEA TO A FULL-FLEDGED AIR RESCUE ORGANIZATION IN JUST A FEW YEARS.
On a daily basis, Eli is busy organizing, staffing, and even flying Hatzolah Air missions. In his spare time, he can be found fundraising tor Hatzolah Air and running his successful health IT company, WOMBA
WHAT IS HATZOLAH AIR?
Hatzolah Air is the aviation team for all Hatzolah organizations and divisions worldwide. The name comes from the Hebrew word rescue. The organization was founded in 1969 in New York and now has off-shoots across North America, Europe, Israel, Australia, and South Africa. In Israel alone, there are more than 20 chapters. Every Hatzolah in the world is independent, has its own corporate structure and board, and is completely responsible for its fundraising and expenses.
In 2019, a small group of us started talking about founding an aviation unit that would fly urgent and emergent air transport missions in the United States and around the world — that became Hatzolah Air.
IS THERE A NEED FOR IT?
If you have a medical emergency when you’re away from home it can be scary. If your condition is such that you can’t fly on a commercial flight or drive home, that’s where we come in. We’ll help get you to appropriate medical care and, if warranted, safely bring you home, either on one of our Hatzolah Air aircraft or we’ll provide medical escorts and medical care on a chartered or commercial flight.
WHAT OTHER TYPES OF MISSIONS DO YOU FLY?
Typically, we help people get to the best possible medical care. Hatzolah Air has flown cancer patients for specialized treatments. Recently, a young lady broke her back when her ATV rolled on top of her. We flew her home. Boruch Hashem, she is walking today!
We also fly people for things like organ transplants, and occasionally we fly niftarim for kevurah, and during COVID, when airlines weren’t flying, we coordinated many flights for community leaders.
HOW DO YOU DECIDE WHO TO APPROVE & HOW DO YOU DO IT FOR FREE?
When we get a call for help, we ask the person calling to fill out a medical intake form. This helps us determine whether the request fits within the purview of our mission. Then our medical staff will decide if we can help logistically, if we can fly the patient safely, and what kind of medical care they’ll need on board. If we approve the flight, it’s free.
Part of the fundamentals of our mission is to provide the help people need without charge. Every dollar we need, to keep our planes mechanically sound, for fuel, hangar, pilots, maintenance, and training comes from donations. Plus, our crew are volunteers, as are the medical doctors, the paramedics, our CFO, COO, the case managers and dispatchers. We have over 200 volunteers. Only our mechanics and pilots are paid and, even then, we have several pilots, like myself and Ron Levy, one of our board members, who are volunteers. Even our fundraisers are volunteers.
We also do lots of fundraising events. Alan Esses a Flatbush Hatzalah coordinator, arranged a fabulous event for us in Joey Jerome’s office in Manhattan, as well as a successful Friday morning breakfast at Joe Nakash’s stunning house in Deal.
Cathy Ades put together a comedy night in the Deal Theatre, which hundreds of people attended. It was informative, successful and so entertaining!
My dream is to one day identify some philanthropists and foundations to cover the budget so we can focus on lifesaving and remove the constant daily fundraising pressure.
TELL US ABOUT YOUR NEW CAMPAIGN
It’s an idea that’s been brewing for a while. We now have a special section of our website that allows donors to purchase letters in a very tiny Sefer Torah we will have written. Donors can form a team and buy letters or words or even sponsor a parashah or special section in the Torah.
That Sefer Torah will fly with the Hatzolah medics on our planes. More than once we’ve been at a remote airport or destination on a Shabbat morning with a minyan, but no Torah!
If we can get 305,000 donors from every corner of the world to buy a letter for $18, that will go really far to help us financially. We currently have 6 aircraft and, once we finish the first Sefer Torah, we hope to do 5 more over the next 5 years, at which time if all goes as planned, we’ll have many more aircraft and need more Torahs, so it’s a fundraising project with no expiration date.
WHAT TYPE OF PLANES DO YOU HAVE?
Our first aircraft was a generously donated Lear 60, which boasts a range of about 2,000 miles and can fly from LA to NY. Our next two donations were two Citation X aircraft. They’re amongst the fastest in the world. Then, to our surprise, a very generous person donated a Gulfstream G550, which can fly over 14 hours with up to 18 people on board, connecting Miami to Israel directly.
In Israel, we use Sikorsky S-76 C++ twin-engine helicopters that can fly multiple patients, crew, and family members at the same time. Our helicopters fly missions across the country and we are adding more helicopters in the next few months.
WHAT IS THE KEY TO RUNNING A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS?
I have a lot of trust in the fantastic people in my business and charity life, and my wife and 4 kids are incredibly supportive. The key to running a successful business and/or charity is to surround yourself with amazing people who share the passion and excitement that you have for the organization. At Hatzolah Air, we are blessed with an army of the most brilliant and dedicated volunteers in the world and every day more talent comes knocking on our door asking how they can help. My son is a pilot and he’s in medical school. BH he’s becoming far more capable than I am! Our team is the best in the world!
