BERGEN COUNTY, N.J. — Five years after the organization’s launch, Bergen Hatzalah has grown from a new volunteer service into one of Bergen County’s most extensive emergency medical services operations, with more than 85 responders, five ambulances, eight emergency response vehicles, the county's sole volunteer paramedic program and nearly 5,000 calls answered.

The milestone was marked Thursday night with a gathering in Teaneck for Bergen Hatzalah members and their families, held exactly five years after the organization responded to its first emergency.

The growth has been rapid. Call volume is up 33 percent year over year, with volunteers responding around the clock from homes, workplaces, shuls and wherever else they happen to be when the call comes in.

That is part of what makes Bergen Hatzalah different.

A volunteer can be sitting at the dinner table, working or in shul when a call comes through. Within minutes, that volunteer can be on the road in a personal vehicle carrying an AED, medications and other lifesaving equipment, starting care before an ambulance arrives.

The organization has built an extensive operation around those volunteers, including its own ambulances, response vehicles, training programs, clinical oversight and medical equipment.

Bergen Hatzalah has also made a point of moving quickly when new medical capabilities become available. When New Jersey allows EMTs to provide additional treatments or perform new skills, Bergen Hatzalah has repeatedly been among the first organizations in the state to pursue approval and put those capabilities into the field.

Last summer, it took another step that set it apart.

Bergen Hatzalah launched a volunteer paramedic program in partnership with RWJBarnabas Health, becoming the only volunteer paramedic program in Bergen County. The program gives patients access to advanced medical care through volunteers who can respond directly to emergencies in their communities.

And the response does not necessarily end at the emergency room door.

Bergen Hatzalah volunteers work to get patients to the hospital best suited to their needs, rather than simply taking them to the closest facility. Depending on the situation, that can mean a hospital elsewhere in Bergen County, across New Jersey or in New York or even farther away.

It is a model built around the idea that the patient comes first from the moment the call comes in until the patient reaches the care they need.

Behind all of it is a second volunteer force: the families.

Members can be pulled away from dinner, family plans, work or sleep without warning. Their spouses and children have spent five years sharing in those interruptions and sacrifices, making the anniversary gathering as much an expression of appreciation to the families as a celebration of the organization.

Bergen Hatzalah is part of the broader Hatzalah movement, a volunteer emergency response network serving Jewish communities throughout the region and around the world.

But five years after its launch, Bergen Hatzalah has built something uniquely its own in Bergen County.

Nearly 5,000 calls, five ambulances, eight response vehicles, more than 85 responders and a volunteer paramedic program have transformed a startup volunteer service into a sophisticated, around-the-clock operation.

And with calls continuing to climb, the organization is heading into its sixth year still expanding.

For the volunteers, the mission remains simple: when a neighbor needs help, answer the call.