Last week, Shmuel Lasry finished his EMT training course with United Hatzalah and will now set out to save lives. Lasry decided to take the course after his brother Shimon Yochai Lasry died in a drowning incident a year-and-a-half-ago on Shavuot.

Shimon was Shmuel’s younger brother and son of the well-known Rabbi Michoel Lasry Shlita.

Shmuel spoke about the tragic incident surrounding his brother’s death. “My little brother Shimon, may his memory be blessed, drowned at the Ashdod beach on erev Shabbos. EMS personnel performed CPR on him at the scene for a long time. He was niftar on Sunday at the hospital.”

Shmuel has a lot of friends who are United Hatzalah volunteer first responders. Now that he finished his training course, he too has joined their ranks and can head out to save lives during medical emergencies that occur in his city. Shmuel said that the impetus for him to take the course was his brother’s death.

“I was in Bnei Brak when my brother died. My family and friends told me what had happened. I have always had a lot of friends who volunteer with United Hatzalah, and I know that they were among the first responders who performed CPR on my brother for more than an hour on the beach that day. I have been comforted to know that they did everything that is humanly possible in order to try to save him. After my brother died I joined up and took a training course. I don’t want there to be any more preventable tragedy in our community or in Israel. I too will do everything that can be done in order to help people and save lives. My brother and I were close, and this is something that I can do in his memory,” said Shmuel.

Shmuel took the 7-month 180-hour training course and completed it by passing his final exam. He is now undertaking the 100 training calls required by the organization to which Shmuel must respond with a veteran EMS first responder before he can be allowed to go out and answer calls on his own. Shmuel’s father, Rabbi Michoel Lasry, came to the graduation and presented Shmuel with his EMT bag that was donated in honor of his younger brother Shimon. This bag will now accompany Shmuel on all of his emergency calls.

“Now that I am an EMT and I have gone on a number of emergency response calls, I understand that most CPR cases last approximately 45 minutes. There are times when I have responded to a call, and the feelings of loss regarding my brother hit me once again with full force. Just recently we were called to an emergency situation at the Ashdod Marina where an older man was threatening to commit suicide. We tried to speak to him but he jumped off the pier anyway, with weights in his pockets. The other two EMTs jumped in the water after him and dragged him out of the sea. We performed CPR on the man, but he didn’t survive the incident. In spite of the painful memories brought up by the incident, I worked together with the other volunteers tirelessly and according to protocol to save the man’s life. I look at my mission now as to save lives in lieu of the one that I lost. To serve as a part of United Hatzalah’s national volunteer first response network and save lives is the greatest possible way that I can memorialize my brother.”

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)