Israel Active

I reported previously on the annual fund-raising “Hole in One” golf tournament of Israeli cancer charity Ezer Mizion. For the first time, a team of cancer patients also competed.  The team not only won one of the top awards, but the patients benefited from a wonderful day out.

Eli Beer, founder and President of United Hatzalah was flying El Al from New York to Israel when he rushed to save the life of a passenger who was having a hypoglycemia attack. Using a borrowed glucometer, honey and jam he stabilized the patient so the flight could continue to Tel Aviv.

The security camera at a wedding venue captured the dramatic events after the band’s drummer began choking food that he’d swallowed. Luckily, one of the guests was United Hatzalah EMT Mordechai Mammon who used the Heimlich maneuver to save the drummer’s life.

Scientists at Israel’s Technion Institute and Tel Aviv University have reconnected severed spinal cords of rats. Previously paralyzed rodents were implanted with cells induced into a neural phenotype, and regained motor control. It could lead to major advances in treating spinal cord injury.

I reported previously on Israel’s Medial EarlySign and its blood test for early detection of colon cancer. Now Medial has developed an algorithm with a 64% success rate for identifying which of 645,000 prediabetics were at risk of becoming diabetics within 12 months.

I reported previously (Nov 2012) on Israel’s Vaica and its system for reminding individuals to take their meds. Vaica has now launched Capsuled - a personally customized medication adherence solution.

The Israeli pavilion at MEDICA 2017 in Dusseldorf, showcased specialized emergency medical services products for intensive care, respiratory, cardiac, central nervous system and trauma. Israeli companies presenting included Inovytec, Medisim, CardiacX and Guide in Medical.

A team of experts from Israel’s Rambam hospital shared their knowledge with Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children on how to prepare for disasters, such as mass casualties. As the city gets larger, the Canadian hospital needs to prepare for taking many casualties at one time.

Twice a year, for the past five years, doctors from Haifa’s Rambam Medical Center have traveled to capital city of Tbilisi to perform operations on local youngsters with serious congenital defects. The delegation consists of pediatric surgeons, anesthesiologists and intensive care specialists.

60 percent of the volunteer Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) staff of Magen David Adom, Israel’s national emergency-response network, are teenagers – the highest percentage in the world. 11,000 Israeli teenagers work voluntary shifts on MDA ambulances throughout Israel.