An invaluable community service to make our schools safer I Heroes.pdf · not only a whole new line...

5
THERE’S PROBABLY NO ONE IN OUR JEWISH COM- munity unfamiliar with Hugo Paluch; no one who wasn’t touched by how this four- teen-year-old boy tragically died from in- juries sustained by a freak accident at school or how the community pulled to- gether as one to daven for Hugo and to provide emotional and physical support for his family. It wasn’t just the Johannes- burg Jewish community either, as his sto- ry has truly gone global - incredibly, so widespread is his impact that a Google search for the name “Hugo” still automati- cally brings up “Hugo Paluch” as the fourth suggestion. While many wonderful words have al- ready been said about Hugo, it’s hard to think of a more fitting tribute to the young man who was beloved by so many than a brand new programme launched by Hatzolah that is specifically tailored to en- sure that what happened to Hugo never happens again to another child at school or on a school outing – or, at the very least, to have the school properly prepared to deal with any and all major injuries or other health-related issues well before professional paramedics arrive. Hugo’s Heroes, as the programme is fit- tingly called, consists of two complemen- tary aspects to ensure that children are as safe as possible while attending any of South Africa’s Jewish day schools. e first aspect involves training two children each from grades ten and eleven (or more in bigger schools) in each Jewish day school in basic first aid – though “basic” might be something of an understate- ment, as the training is a labour-law and Netcare approved and tested Level-1 first- aid course and is followed by continuous training where the hope is to get each of these students up to a Level-3 first aid by the next year, just as the next batch of grade 10 students join the programme. e second aspect of Hugo’s Heroes, that very much goes hand-in-hand with the first, is a health and safety course that effectively makes students “another set of eyes” on campus to ensure that there aren’t any health or safety risks on school property and to ensure that any such weak spots are dealt with as quickly and as effi- ciently as possible. is side of Hugo’s He- roes is, in fact, run by Hugo’s father, Dov Paluch, both as a pre-emptive counterpart to the reactive first-aid course, but also as a way to ensure that Jewish day schools 70 JEWISH LIFE QISSUE 110 PHOTOGRAPHS: JASON CROUSE PHOTOGRAPHY, WWW.CROUSE.CO.ZA ;SUPPLIED FEATURE An invaluable community service to make our schools safer I BY ILAN PRESKOVSKY ROUGHLY ONE AND HALF YEARS AGO, YAKOV CONTACTED DR REUVEN JACKS AT HATZOLAH TO PUT A COURSE INTO PLACE THAT WOULD TEACH STUDENTS FROM ALL THE DIFFERENT JEWISH DAY SCHOOLS BASIC FIRST AID. LEFT TO RIGHT: Hilly Reuben, Dov Paluch, and Alon Crouse

Transcript of An invaluable community service to make our schools safer I Heroes.pdf · not only a whole new line...

Page 1: An invaluable community service to make our schools safer I Heroes.pdf · not only a whole new line of defence against tragedies happening to children at school, but have been empowered

THERE’S PROBABLY NO ONE IN OUR JEWISH COM-

munity unfamiliar with Hugo Paluch; no

one who wasn’t touched by how this four-

teen-year-old boy tragically died from in-

juries sustained by a freak accident at

school or how the community pulled to-

gether as one to daven for Hugo and to

provide emotional and physical support

for his family. It wasn’t just the Johannes-

burg Jewish community either, as his sto-

ry has truly gone global - incredibly, so

widespread is his impact that a Google

search for the name “Hugo” still automati-

cally brings up “Hugo Paluch” as the

fourth suggestion.

While many wonderful words have al-

ready been said about Hugo, it’s hard to

think of a more � tting tribute to the

young man who was beloved by so many

than a brand new programme launched by

Hatzolah that is speci� cally tailored to en-

sure that what happened to Hugo never

happens again to another child at school

or on a school outing – or, at the very

least, to have the school properly prepared

to deal with any and all major injuries or

other health-related issues well before

professional paramedics arrive.

Hugo’s Heroes, as the programme is � t-

tingly called, consists of two complemen-

tary aspects to ensure that children are as

safe as possible while attending any of

South Africa’s Jewish day schools. � e

� rst aspect involves training two children

each from grades ten and eleven (or more

in bigger schools) in each Jewish day

school in basic � rst aid – though “basic”

might be something of an understate-

ment, as the training is a labour-law and

Netcare approved and tested Level-1 � rst-

aid course and is followed by continuous

training where the hope is to get each of

these students up to a Level-3 � rst aid by

the next year, just as the next batch of

grade 10 students join the programme.

� e second aspect of Hugo’s Heroes,

that very much goes hand-in-hand with

the � rst, is a health and safety course that

e� ectively makes students “another set of

eyes” on campus to ensure that there

aren’t any health or safety risks on school

property and to ensure that any such weak

spots are dealt with as quickly and as e� -

ciently as possible. � is side of Hugo’s He-

roes is, in fact, run by Hugo’s father, Dov

Paluch, both as a pre-emptive counterpart

to the reactive � rst-aid course, but also as

a way to ensure that Jewish day schools

70 JEWISH LIFE ISSUE 110

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FEATURE

An invaluable community service to make our schools safer I BY ILAN PRESKOVSKY

ROUGHLY ONE AND HALF YEARS AGO, YAKOV CONTACTED DR REUVEN JACKS AT HATZOLAH TO PUT A COURSE INTO

PLACE THAT WOULD TEACH STUDENTS FROM ALL THE DIFFERENT JEWISH DAY SCHOOLS BASIC FIRST AID.

LEFT TO RIGHT: Hilly Reuben, Dov Paluch, and Alon Crouse

Page 2: An invaluable community service to make our schools safer I Heroes.pdf · not only a whole new line of defence against tragedies happening to children at school, but have been empowered

Wishing you Health,

Happiness, Peace and

Prosperity...

Today and all

through the year.

L’Shana Tova

and Well over the Fast

not only meet the legal health and safety

requirements that all schools are supposed

to follow, but to improve upon these ulti-

mately fairly limited laws.

FOR THE STUDENTS AND BY

THE STUDENTS

Interestingly enough, the programme that

was to become Hugo’s Heroes actually was

starting to take form about a year before

Hugo’s tragic death, as a group of students

came to Hatzolah to try and work out a

programme that would put the power in

student hands to deal with any medical

emergencies that might occur on school

property.

One of the main instigators of this po-

tential new programme was Yakov Drut-

man, who is currently in grade 11 at Torah

Academy Boys High, but has had a lifelong

interest in medicine and !rst aid. A few

years ago, he joined the !rst aid course

that the King David High Schools o"er to

their students and earned a Level-3 in !rst

aid. Since qualifying, though, he started to

become more and more perturbed that the

Jewish day schools didn’t o"er basic !rst

aid training to even their senior students.

Roughly one and half years ago, Yakov

contacted Dr Reuven Jacks at Hatzolah to

put a course into place that would teach

students from all the di"erent Jewish day

schools basic !rst aid and, though Dr

Jacks immediately took to the idea and

the Hatzolah board approved it soon after,

by the time of Hugo’s accident the pro-

gramme had only just left its planning

stages. After Hugo sadly passed away, Ya-

kov approached Hatzolah’s Alon Crouse at

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Hugo’s funeral and asked him not only if

the programme could be fast-tracked, but

if it could be done in Hugo’s name.

With the horrible circumstances sur-

rounding Hugo’s accident as an impetus,

Hugo’s Heroes started to quickly turn into

what it is now. Dov Paluch admits to being

“very touched that these kids wanted to in-

corporate Hugo’s name into the pro-

gramme” and was “humbled and proud to

associate Hugo’s name with the pro-

gramme” and he soon came on board to cre-

ate and oversee the second part of the Hu-

go’s Heroes programme, that of health and

safety. As well as being an incredible tribute

to their beloved son, Dov and his wife, Ni-

cole, also saw the programme as a way to

give back to a community that had done so

much for their family in what was undoubt-

edly an unimaginably di�cult time.

THE COURSE ITSELF

Both Dov and Alon Crouse are quick to

stress that this is very much only the be-

ginning of Hugo’s Heroes and that there

are plans afoot to make it an increasingly

comprehensive programme, but what is in

place already is something of a game-

changer. By putting the safety of their

schools and the health and safety of their

fellow students in their hands, those who

have trained with Hugo’s Heroes so far are

not only a whole new line of defence

against tragedies happening to children at

school, but have been empowered tremen-

dously by their new-found and critically

important responsibilities. See the sidebar

to meet two of Hugo’s Heroes and their

thoughts on the programme they were

elected to join.

!e programme is, it has to be said, very

demanding, so the students who have been

chosen for this initial phase of Hugo’s He-

roes have been chosen, to some degree, on

their physical "tness, but mostly by their

academic results to ensure that such an in-

tensive programme does not interfere with

their school work – which becomes espe-

cially pressing for those in grade 11. !e

"rst aid course itself is technically “only”

Level 1, but as Yakov Drutman puts it: “I

did a Level 3 course and, though the course

is only o�cially a Level 1 course, it’s nearly

as involved as a Level 3.”

And Yakov would know, as he has helped

with the running of the course, along with

the likes of Hilly Reuben – who also

sourced the equipment needed for the

course – and Ashira Sackstein. Others who

volunteered their valuable time to help or-

ganise the course are Avi Smith, Saul Jo-

seph, and Yehuda Goldberg. It’s because of

people like these that the "rst wave of Hu-

go’s Heroes has turned out as well as it has.

Beyond the course itself, the teenagers

of Hugo’s Heroes are constantly being giv-

en new material to learn, and each term

comes with a test on what they’ve done so

far. !e Heroes and Hatzolah remain in

close contact through email and Whatsapp

72 JEWISH LIFE ISSUE 110

MAX MARON

Hatzolah is a vital

part of our com-

munity, providing

emergency care to

all in need. !eir

role in our com-

munity should

never be under-

played or underestimated. Now,

through Hatzolah and their new ini-

tiative Hugo’s Heroes, scholars like

me are given an opportunity to make

a significant difference in our com-

munity. Getting involved with Hatzo-

lah by assisting them and our schools

is such an incredible and helpful way

of providing a basic, yet essential ser-

vice, and giving back to our commu-

nity. Hugo’s Heroes provides a level

of basic first aid that is a necessity for

all people to have, whether in school

or generally in life. !is training al-

lows Hugo’s Heroes to provide assis-

tance at our schools which relieves

some of the pressure of “unneces-

sary” calls. It can also narrow the gap

between incident and necessary as-

sistance by reducing the time be-

tween call and response. !e train-

ing, while intense, was extremely

enlightening; seeing what it takes to

be a responder; being with other

learners and all growing together. We

learned from our instructors that

Hatzolah is not only an organisation,

but a family, a family that we are now

part of. !e instructors showed us

that they were extremely committed

and passionate about their jobs as re-

sponders. I personally look up to all

of them and want to thank them all

for their services to the community.

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groups, and they are constantly working

on ways to improve their knowledge and

their methodologies, even just by being

forwarded articles of breakthroughs in

� rst aid medicine.

� e � rst batch of Hugo’s Heroes have

� nished their course and are soon to grad-

uate, where they will receive their � rst aid

vests and � rst aid packs that are kept at

their respective schools. � ey are to be in

charge of the health and safety of their

schools, including the primary and nursery

schools on campus, and even accompany

school trips and Shabbatons (where they go

and collect a separate � rst aid pack from

Hatzolah so as not to deprive the schools

themselves from having it on-hand).

THE FUTUREAs noted, this really is only the beginning

of Hugo’s Heroes. � eir plans certainly

don’t stop here. Two of their biggest imme-

diate goals, for example, would certainly

take things to even higher levels than they

already are now. For a start, Dov wants to

take the health and safety side of the pro-

gramme and expand it to include not only

obvious health risks, but to tackle issues

like bullying that are health and safety

risks too – though perhaps more subtly so.

� e other major expansion to the pro-

gramme that is clearly quite vital is to ex-

pand their training beyond the students

selected to be Hugo’s Heroes and make

sure that all students and, most impor-

tantly, teachers, have some knowledge of

� rst aid and that they can all participate

in looking out for the health and safety of

their schools. Obviously, funds are an is-

sue for all Jewish day schools – especially

for the smaller ones – so the roll-out will

have to be gradual, but plans are already

in place to do so.

It’s also obviously not going to be the

case that every child of every age at every

school will be given anywhere near the

kind of extensive and intensive training

that the Hugo’s Heroes students receive,

but one of the major end goals of Hugo’s

Heroes is to ensure that no student

should � nish school without some basic

knowledge in how to deal with a medical

emergency. No less importantly, teachers,

who are e! ectively in charge of your kids

while they’re at school, should really know

basic � rst aid.

Both Alon Crouse and Dov Paluch stress

that these are not pipe dreams, but are in

active development and will hopefully start

going into practice as early as the begin-

ning of next year. � ey are also just as

quick to stress that they are still learning as

they go on and hope to improve the pro-

gramme continuously, making it more ex-

pansive and more e! ective at every turn.

All this, of course, relies heavily on the

support of the community – which, they

are very quick to point out, has been tre-

mendous so far – but as even this early

version of Hugo’s Heroes has shown that

Hugo Paluch’s, z”l, name looks set to be a

banner of crucial community services for

many, many more years to come. JL

To ! nd out more about this

amazing project, please visit

www.hatzolah.co.za/hugosheroes.

74 JEWISH LIFE ISSUE 110

NAOMI MAZABOWWhen I volun-

teered to be one of

Hugo’s Heroes, I

was a bit unsure of

my decision. Was

this the way I

wanted to spend

the last day of my

holidays? Would I be able to handle the

responsibility? What strengthened my

decision was the fact that this course is

dedicated to Hugo Paluch. I didn’t

know Hugo personally, but from all of

the stories that I’ve heard, I feel like I

did, and I wanted to do something in

his memory. Knowing that I have been

given the skills to save a life has given

me a sense of responsibility and em-

powerment. ! ere was also a strong

emphasis on prevention through a

workshop with Dov Paluch. We were

taught in that workshop to look out

for the things that cause dangerous

situations in the fi rst place. I realised

through this workshop how many in-

juries can be prevented by noticing

seemingly small things, eg: tree

stumps and nails. ! e course itself was

run brilliantly. ! e paramedics were

enthusiastic, answering all questions

in detail and with patience. What

struck me after doing the course was

how it has defi ned our community in a

way that’s diff erent from other com-

munities: we pull together in times of

tragedy and, from the midst of the

pain, we build something positive and

we make a change. For me, that was

the biggest lesson: When something

happens, don’t just move on, do some-

thing about it, empower others, and

THOSE WHO HAVE TRAINED WITH HUGO’S HEROES SO FAR ARE NOT ONLY A WHOLE NEW LINE OF DEFENCE AGAINST

TRAGEDIES HAPPENING TO CHILDREN AT SCHOOL, BUT HAVE BEEN EMPOWERED TREMENDOUSLY BY THEIR NEW-FOUND

AND CRITICALLY IMPORTANT RESPONSIBILITIES.