Eyal Marom is a volunteer EMT with United Hatzalah, he lives in the city of Ma’alot-Tarshiha in northern Galilee with his wife. They have five children who are all under the age of 12. Marom studies in the Yeshiva in Ma’alot and works as a scribe for religious articles writing mezuzot, Torah scrolls, tefillin, and other Judaica items. Marom is an incredibly active volunteer and responds to between 30-40 medical emergencies each month.
In addition to being an EMT and an ambucyclist himself, Marom also volunteers as the head of the automotive department for the entire Ma’alot-Tarhisha chapter and is responsible for the upkeep and logistics for all on United Hatzalah’s ambucycles, emergency e-bikes, ATVs, ambulances, and any other vehicle in his region. Marom was selected, via raffle, as the volunteer of the month for the month of November.
Marom is the second volunteer to have been selected as the volunteer of the month following Zayid Ahiav, who was selected as the volunteer of the month in October. As part of the Year of The Volunteer project, Marom and his family will now be honored by the organization and given an all-expenses-paid weekend at a hotel of their choice in Israel as a thank you to him for all of his hard work and to his family for allowing him to dedicate his time as a volunteer.
Marom spoke about why he is so passionate about volunteering with United Hatzalah. “Approximately eight years ago, my son fell and hit his head. He was bleeding profusely. At the time, there weren’t so many medical volunteers here in Ma’alot area. Ambulances take a long time here as there aren’t so many of them and they are spread out over a wide area. The only place I could take him was to a walk-in doctor’s clinic.”
Marom continued, “The doctor at the clinic told me he was fine and that I should take him home. I felt that this was incorrect and I called a friend who told me to take him directly to the emergency room. When I arrived at the hospital they did some scans and found a fairly serious injury. My son was hospitalized for observation, had his wound tended to and closed, and received proper treatment. It was then that I felt that I need to become trained as an EMT so that I would know what to do when emergencies occur and that I could help those around me, as there were very few people here doing that.”
Marom was one of the founding members of the Ma’alot-Tarhisha chapter and has been bringing in other volunteers and assisting community members ever since. “Being a visible force for good in the community is incredibly important and adds resilience to all of the residents here. As a United Hatzalah volunteer, I receive phone calls at all hours of the day and night to help those who are injured or feeling unwell. This isn’t the correct protocol, but I find that when people are in distress they often forget to call the emergency number and instead call a person they know well whom they know can help out. I even get calls at 3:00 in the morning from time to time. Helping the community is exactly what being a United Hatzalah volunteer is all about and I am happy to do it.”
Oshri Eliyahu, the chapter head of United Hatalah’s Ma’alot-Tarhisha chapter spoke a little about Marom’s dedication to helping others. “Marom is one of the veteran members of our chapter. He continues to rush out and respond to emergencies in spite of having been doing this for a long time. He doesn’t tire, he continues to give of himself as much as he can. Whether he is responding to medical emergencies or running the automotive department, he does everything with care and incredible attention to detail in order to help as many people as he can. He is a truly special person and I am proud of him and the fact that he was selected as the volunteer of the month, he deserves it.”
To find out more about our Year of the Volunteer project, please click here:
