Jewish Life Digital Edition September 2015 | Page 26

PHOTO BY JASON CROUSE PHOTOGRAPHY

worked professionally as a team. We
managed to get the patient out the car,
stabilised, and transported to hospital
in record time. I’m just a small spoke in
a huge wheel. Too often, people forget
about the people behind the scenes that
make it possible for the responders to
do their part, because all you see are
the guys in ambulance, such as: the
board, who run things behind the
scenes; the people who raise the money
to buy all the state-of-the-art equipment; and the group of dedicated dispatchers who receive the calls, who also
undergo rigorous training and testing
and lose the same amount of sleep and
work just as hard. Hatzolah is a system
where everyone relies on everyone else,
and as long as people are doing what
they are supposed to, then things work
out. But mainly, the emphasis is not
just about getting the job done; it’s
about how you do it.”

ALON
CROUSE

In 2007, I was
faced with a very
personal
challenge of having
to resuscitate my
role model, my
best friend, my
father, Richard.
At that time, I was just a kid, fresh out
of school with no medical training and
no idea what I was really doing, and so
emulating what I had seen on TV felt
like my safest bet. I placed my hands
on my father’s chest, starting chest
compressions and combined breathing. After seven or eight minutes,
which truly felt like a lifetime to me,
Hatzolah arrived. A team of boys, with
tzitzit hanging down their sides,
dressed in casual clothing, exuding a
sense of calm, knowledge and dedication, brought me to an immediate
sense of comfort. This was my first encounter with Hatzolah Medical Rescue,
and little did I know then, but it surely
was not going to be my last. Within
two years of my father’s passing, I had
joined the basic paramedic course and

22 JEWISH LIFE ■ ISSUE 88

WHAT I CAME TO REALISE VERY QUICKLY IS THAT
SAVING A LIFE OFTEN NEEDS MORE THAN ONE PAIR OF
HANDS, AND THAT THE PAIR OF HANDS CLOSEST TO THE
ONE IN NEED, ACTING TIMELY, PLAY THE MOST VITAL ROLE.
THIS LED ME TO FOUND OUR CPR TRAINING CENTRE.
ALON CROUSE
couldn’t wait to start my journey of
saving lives.
Over the years, my training progressed from basic to intermediate and
e ventually, with a lot of passion, determination and endurance, I qualified as
an advanced critical care paramedic. It
took me six years to reach where I am
today. Behind the scenes, we are continuously training for every type of emergency, keeping up with new research
and constantly improving and polishing
our skills. But, what I came to realise
very quickly is that saving a life often
needs more than one pair of hands, and
that the pair of hands closest to the one
in need, acting timely, play the most vital role. This led me to found our CPR
Training Centre, which aims to teach a
wide range of people – including domestic workers, parents, teachers,
healthcare professionals – the skills of
CPR, choking and, very importantly,
the recognition of an emergency. The
more hands we have, the better our
chances of saving lives.

HILLY
REUBEN

At the age of 15, I
developed an interest in emergency medicine
and the art of
saving lives. I
would
borrow
books on the sub-

ject, and I would dream about how I
would be able to put this into practice. I
never thought I had what it would take
to be one of these guys that spend night
and day dedicated to our community in
times of need. But, it was shortly afterwards that I was witness to one of my
good friends being involved in a car accident. On arriving at his car seconds after
it came to a standstill and having no idea
what to do, we called Hatzolah, and
within minutes there were medics arriving from every direction, who treated
him and took him off to hospital. I no
longer had any doubt – this is what I
wanted to do. Qualifying was a dream
come true, a dream that never diminished with time. After many hours and
shifts working part-time, I realised that
this is me, and this is what I want to do.
I filled every spare moment attending to
calls, until I got the opportunity to work
for Hatzolah full-time.
Just the thought of being there to
help people on a constant basis, every
day and often at nights and weekends,
was the most amazing gift I have ever
been given. This is my calling; attending call after call, assisting others as
they go through the hardest of times,
as well as having the opportunity to
bring new life into the world, treating
everyone with care and compassion
while delivering medical excellence. In
the future, I would love to have the ability to continue what I do best, saving
lives and growing in my abilities. JL

JUST THE THOUGHT OF BEING THERE TO HELP PEOPLE
ON A CONSTANT BASIS, EVERY DAY AND OFTEN AT NIGHTS
AND WEEKENDS, WAS THE MOST AMAZING GIFT I HAVE
EVER BEEN GIVEN. THIS IS MY CALLING. HILLY REUBEN