President’s Dinner 2017

A cycling group of fit, active men over 60 regularly bike Israel’s most rugged trails. Recently, they were cycling in the deep desert canyons of Mitzpe Rimon, when suddenly one cyclist went down. “I’m literally alive today thanks to a hard lesson learned three years ago,” said Yaron Efrat, 70, who suffered sudden cardiac arrest…

A 7.8 magnitude earthquake rocked south central Turkey, killing thousands, injuring tens of thousands, and sending shockwaves felt as far away as Israel. The Israeli military is sending a rescue delegation and Magen David Adom, as Israel’s representative to the International Red Cross, is making aid preparations amid consultations with the Israeli government, the Turkish…

Magen David Adom, Israel’s national paramedic organization, is demonstrating its cutting-edge ambulance dispatch system to American EMTs at the Hatzalah Expo, a gathering of Jewish volunteer EMS organizations, on October 30 and 31 at the Meadowlands in New Jersey. Hatzalah South Florida currently uses a version of the software that has been tailored to their…

Felix Lotan, a senior paramedic who oversees disaster response for Magen David Adom, is a member of Israel’s search and rescue team, which was dispatched to Turkey following that country’s earthquake Monday. Today, together with the IDF team, he rescued a 12-year-old boy and a 23-year-old woman who had been under the rubble for nearly…

Alex Michigan, a senior EMT, just celebrated his 80th birthday and marked 50 years of volunteering with Magen David Adom. He is also MDA’s oldest Medicycle driver. “My wife and daughter pressure me to get off the motorcycle, but I can’t; I’m addicted,” said Michigan. “To this day, I also take turns in a Mobile…