MDA medicycle in honour of Spinak
A MEDICYCLE donated by Magen David Adom NSW in honour of late former NSW Jewish Board of Deputies (JBOD) president Jeremy Spinak will fulfil one of his final wishes, his family say.
A MEDICYCLE donated by Magen David Adom NSW in honour of late former NSW Jewish Board of Deputies (JBOD) president Jeremy Spinak will fulfil one of his final wishes, his family say.
Spinak, who served as JBOD president from 2014 to 2018, passed away in November 2018 from a rare form of cancer, aged just 36.
He left behind wife Rhiannon and one-year-old twins Michael and Grace. He is also survived by parents Margaret and Richard, brother Jason and sister Jenny.
MDA NSW co-vice-president Melissa McCurdie, who is also honorary secretary of JBOD, was present to officially dedicate the medicycle to MDA in Israel, where it is now in service.
A dedication on the bike reads, “Presented to the people of Israel in memory of Jeremy Mark Spinak, president, NSW Jewish Board of Deputies 2014-2018, by Australian Friends of Magen David Adom, Sydney, Australia 2019.”
The Spinak family said it is “very moved by this memorial gesture from Magen David Adom NSW, which keeps Jeremy’s memory alive while saving the lives of others”.
“Jeremy would have been very proud of this honour as he spent much of his shortened life trying to achieve good things for his beloved Jewish community,” the family said.
“This tribute also helps fulfil a wish of Jeremy’s; that his own young children will come to know him by his deeds and lasting contributions.”
Addressing the JBOD AGM in August last year, Spinak urged members of the community, “When you bump into my children, Grace and Michael, in the future bore them with your recollections of me and bore them with stories of just how fantastic I was.
“Tell them your memories and please give them a sense of what it was like working with their dad.”
His successor as JBOD president, Lesli Berger, commended MDA NSW “for this tremendous initiative”.
“The fact that there is a medicycle on the streets of Israel saving lives and helping people of all faiths is a wonderfully appropriate tribute to Jeremy,” he said.
The MDA board said the dedication was in recognition of Spinak’s “incredible service to our community”.
“These first responder medicycles are a vital part of MDA’s lifesaving services as they can more easily navigate through heavy traffic and narrow streets … further reducing response times.
“Medicycles carry a kit of medical equipment and a defibrillator that can treat a multitude of injuries caused by trauma or other medical conditions.”
GARETH NARUNSKY
comments