NEW YORK (VINnews/SandyEller/Shimon Gifter) – A Hasidic man from Williamsburg is being hailed as a hero this morning after providing medical care to a woman who passed out on a Florida-bound plane last night.
The incident took place on JetBlue flight 571 from LaGuardia Airport to Fort Lauderdale, when a woman collapsed in the aisle as the flight crew was in the middle of their beverage service.
A member of Williamsburg Hatzalah rendered medical assistance to the female passenger, allowing the pilot to continue on to Florida instead of having to make an emergency landing.
Sources identified the man as Naftuli Schischa.
VIN News spoke to Schischa, who declined to speak about the incident, saying only that Hatzalah members have provided assistance to passengers in flight on many occasions.
Those thoughts were echoed by Chevra Hatzlah CEO Rabbi Yehiel Kalish who said that the incident was par for the course for his members.
“This is what we do,” Kalish told VIN News. “When people call Hatzalah, we ask two questions – what’s wrong and where can we find you. This is what this member was trained to do and what he did on last night’s flight.”
Like many other Wednesday night flights from New York, Flight 571 was delayed because of the heavy rains, and it left LaGuardia 95 minutes after its scheduled 9:45 PM departure time.
Ambulances met the plane at Fort Lauderdale when it landed at 2:36 AM, taking the woman, who was conscious and communicative, to a local hospital.
Source: VosIzNeias