Eitan Shushan summed up the motivation for his and his brother’s work: “You don’t wait for chesed — chesed comes to you.”

Eitan and Elad Shushan, aged 20 and 17 respectively, have been coordinating rides for a dialysis patient since October 2021 by using a spreadsheet to organize volunteers. “We organize rides for patients that undergo dialysis three times a week, from their home to the dialysis center and then from the dialysis center back to their home, to lift the burden off the families,” Eitan explained.

The project started during the pandemic when the Shushans’ grandfather fell ill. “We had this idea during COVID because my grandfather was on a ventilator for a few weeks. He was, b”H, taken off the ventilator, but we heard that he needed dialysis three times a week, four, five-hour treatments, and it was really tough, not only on him, but on us as well. And from this, we realized how many people are on dialysis and how painful it is for the family. So we do this to lift the burden,” said the brothers.

The Jewish Link last spoke to the Shushans back in 2021 as they began their project. What have they been up to since? Eitan said, “The patient we’ve been taking to and from for the last two- and-a-half years and he sadly passed away about two weeks ago. We were able to give him rides until his last appointment.We’ve been very consistent. We got him as a patient from the 2021 article. Someone reached out and gave us his name, and we had many more drivers because of the article.”

Eitan concluded, “The whole point is to lift the burden off the families and to just do the right thing. You should always try to free yourself, even 20 minutes a day, to help out with chesed. And I think this is a very nice way to do it.”

If you know a dialysis patient in need or can volunteer to drive, text Eitan at 201-600-5508, who emphasized the need for as many drivers as possible.

Daniel Brauner is a summer intern at The Jewish Link. He is an incoming student at Yeshiva University and lives in Teaneck. Contact him at [email protected].