This is a writing sample by “nycghostwriter,” AKA Barbara Finkelstein. It is “Organizing Women to Help Other Women,” an as-told-to Personal Best feature to be published in an upcoming issue of AARP Magazine. You can get professional ghostwriting services from a published non-fiction writer. Email me or fill out the short form on my contact page.
Shortly after I graduated from law school, I got involved with at-risk kids in my hasidic community. I was 40 years old with six children of my own, but I had made a deal with God: If He helped me maintain my religious standards during law school, I would help His children when they needed me. As a vocal advocate for good kids who made bad choices, I acquired a reputation as a community activist.
One evening I got a phone call from a young woman who said she was an EMT and a doula. She invited me to meet her and a group of female EMTs who wanted to participate in our Brooklyn community’s all-male ambulance corps. Despite her reasoning that women in medical emergencies prefer being treated by women, she could not convince the men to let women join.
I went to that meeting and met a group of sincere and dedicated women. When it comes to changing an entrenched culture, however, good intentions are not enough. The group needed legal advice. I thought, “If I went to law school for this cause alone, it was worth it.”
My legal credentials notwithstanding, I could not persuade the men to let us establish a female EMT division. We had no choice but to create our own squad.
I became the squad’s de facto director. Now I needed EMS training. I called my best friend. “Ma,” I said. “We’re going to become EMTs.” This was the second time my mother and I took a class together. The first was a LaMaze class because we were both pregnant at the same time.
It was enormously hard to get Ezras Nashim — “Women Help” — off the ground. I worked with the state and federal government as well as the IRS to set up a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. Through contacts I made in college, law school and the workplace, I raised funds for an EMT van. In May 2014, three years after our first meeting, we made our first call. (Ezras Nashim’s phone number is not connected to the 911 system or to the male EMS squad. We have our own number.)
The hasidic community has grown accustomed to seeing our 50 black-and-purple clad volunteers en route to a medical emergency. Even so, it will take a generation to bring about a change in attitudes. Many older people have their entrenched opinions. But our boys and girls will grow up knowing that mommies can be EMTs — and judges — too.
