Aber
8, 1918
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
_Hagen David Adorn Plans Expanded Medical Services
TEL AVIV — Early in
October construction will
begin on the site of the new
MDA Israel National Blood
Center in Tel Aviv.
This, the newest and most
ambitious addition to the
life-saving projects' of
Magen David Adorn in Is-
rael, will be built on a 31/2
acre site close to airport
facilities and to the network
of highways that connect
Tel Aviv with Jerusalem,
Haifa, and other major
cities.
On completion, the
$10,000,000 complex will
include a fully equipped
modern blood donor center,
laboratories for research, a
communications and com-
puter center to facilitate
and upgrade the collection
and distribution of blood to
hospitals and first aid sta-
tions throughout the coun-
try, and a system of under-
ground missile and bomb-
proof facilities for the proc-
essing, fractionation, and
storage of blood.
Planning for the new
MDA blood center began
immediately after the
Yom Kippur War in 1973,
when Israeli officials be-
Came convinced that
existing facilities were
inadequate for the future"
needs of the population.
Prof. Bracha Ramot,
world renowned
hematologist and head of
the MDA Blood Services
Program, estimates that the
need for blood — dramati-
cally demonstrated this
year in the terrorist assault
on the Tel Aviv-Haifa road,
when MDA had to provide,
almost instantaneously,•
over 300 pints of blood to
civilians and soldiers — will
be tripled in the next ten
years.
"One cannot estimate,"
says Prof. Ramot, "literally,
how many thousands of
additional lives will be
saved in the future because
of the construction of our
new Blood Center."
MDA's Blood Services
have steadily widened the
scope and sophistication of
their activities for the bene-
fit of all of the inhabitants of
Israel. These activities are
carried out by three bodies:
the Blood Recruitment Di-
vision which is in charge of
the nationwide blood insur-
ance program; the Central
Blood Bank; and the Col.
David Marcus Fractiona-
tion Institute.
Some 125,000 units of
fresh blood were col-
lected by Magen David
Adom in 1977 - about 80
percent of the total blood
needs of the country (the
other 20 percent were col-
lected by local hospitals),
and 100 percent of the
needs of the Israel De-
fense Forces.
The fresh blood, brought
to the Central Blood Bank
by refrigerated blood-
mobiles, is stored at a tem-
perature of 4°C, is then
sorted for blood groups and
Rh factor and is tested and
screened to ensure that it
does not carry diseases. The
_Central Blood Bank
supplies fresh blood and
components to the country's
hospitals and to the Israel
Defense Forces in accord-
ance with their daily needs,
and stockpiles blood for
emergencies.
Another important task
of the Central Blood Bank is
the separation, by centrifu-
gation, of fresh blood into
thrOmbocytes, cryoprecipi-
tate and plasma. Thrombo-
cytes are needed in the
treatment of/ victims of
leukemia and cancer and for
patients undergoing heart
surgery.
Leukemia, once consid-
ered an invariably fatal dis-
ease, can now be halted in
certain cases, and indis-
pensable components of the
supportive therapy are the
thrombocytes which MDA's
Central Blood Bank sepa-
rates and supplies.
Cryoprecipitate — the
matter that effects crust-
ing — is truly a lifesaver
for the more than 200
hemophiliacs in the
country. It must be sepa-
rated from fresh blood
very shortly after collec-
tion.
At present some 1,500
units of thrombocytes and
2,000 units of cryoprecipi-
tate are processed monthly
at the Central Blood Bank.
But growing demands re-
quire a considerable expan-
sion of production. This will
be effected at the new Blood
Services Center.
A new activity of the Cen-
tral Blood Bank is the proc-
essing of leucocytes — the
corpuscles of the blood
needed to fight infection —
through leucophoresis.
To cope with unforeseen
emergencies, blood of rare
type is frozen at the Bank at
-80°C for long-term storage.
At present, some 15 lab-
oratory technicians are at
work at the Central Blood
Bank, under the guidance of
Dr. Shulamit Bar-Shany,
the Bank's medical director.
After moving into the new
Blood Services Center, the
staff is to be doubled, to
meet the increasing needs
and demands of the growth
of population and the ad-
vances of medicine.
Fresh blood has an ef-
Processing of gammaglobulin at Magen David Adom's Col. David Marcus
Fractionation Institute.
An artist's drawing of the new Magen David Adom Blood Services Cent€
The annual dinner of tne
ficacy span of 21 days. to defray a major part of the
Michigan Region of the
The plasma from out- building costs; Friends-of-
dated blood that has lost MDA Societies on four con- American Red Magen David
its efficacy, is transferred tinents will contribute the for Israel will be held Sept.
17 at Cong. Bnai Moshe.
to the Col. David Marcus balance.
Fractionation Institute.
Here protein components
for therapeutic use are
fractionated from the
plasma, in large quan-
The groundbreaking reaching humanitarian
tities and on an industrial
ceremonies of the New programs of Magen David
scale.
Magen David Adom (MDA) Adorn, Israel's Emergency
Working under difficult Israel National Blood Cen- Medical Service and for her
conditions in crammed ter, scheduled to take place tireless efforts on behalf of
quarters, the staff of 15 on Oct. 22, will be attended the gallant Jewish activists
technicians, chemists and by top Israeli government in the Soviet Union."
She has been active in
pharmacists, headed by officials, a delegation of
Haim Dagan, director of the American Red Magen several programs on behalf
institute, process solutions David for Israel (ARMDI) of Soviet Jewry and has
of normal serum albumin leaders, representatives been vice chairman of the
and immune serum globu- from the Israel Defense Detroit Committee for
Forces, Civil Defense, Soviet Jewry for a number
lin.
Police and health-related of years.
Albumin is vitally impor- agencies who work closely
Philip Slomovitz, editor
tant for patients suffering with Magen David Adom on and publisher of The Jewish
from shock and in all cases a day-to-day basis.
News, will be guest speaker,
where the patient's body
does not produce it in suffi-
cient quantities. It is an im-
portant healing agent in se-
vere burns and scalds. The
normal serum albumin pro-
duced by the Institute is
supplied directly to the hos-
pitals.
Testimonial to Rae Sharfman
Tied to MDA's Blood Center
The gammaglobulin is an
important prophylactic
against hepatitis. When an
outbreak of jaundice occurs
among a group of young
people, for instance, the
entire group is given injec-
tions of the globulin.
The gammaglobulin
produced by the institute
is supplied to hospitals,
Sick Fund clinics and
pharmacies. The pro-
ceeds from the sale of the
products help cover part
of the institute's opera-
tional budget.
The institute's new quar-
ters at the Blood Services
Center to be built will make
feasible automation and re-
search. Among the products
that Haim Dagan hopes to
produce is hyperimmune
globulin of various kinds.
The new Blood Services
Center will enable Magen
David Adorn to greatly ex-
pand and modernize the
work of its blood services. It
will enable MDA to stock
blood reserves and to con-
duct an intensified program
of applied research in coop-
eration with institutions of
medicine and science.
The building of the center
— MDA's most ambitious
project to date — is to be a
multi-national project in
which MDA societies the
world over take part.
American Red Magen
David for Israel has pledged
71 -r IAD
FIN
DN -- 10'D
Minister
Prime
Menahem Begin, commend-
ing ARMDI efforts, re-
marked: "I have heard with
deep satisfaction of the
wonderful work being per-
formed by the American-
Red Magen David for Israel.
This great human effort is, I
understand, to be crowned
by a new and important
project which your organ-
ization is sponsoring, the
construction of the MDA
National Blood Center in
Tel Aviv.
"This is, indeed, an
enterprise worthy of the
American Magen David
Adom in commemoration of
Israel's 30th anniversary of
independence. Your
endeavor is an expression of
all that is noble and good in
our eternal Jewish heri-
tage."
Dr. John J. Mames,
chairman of the Michi-
gan Region and Dr. Mor-
ris Starkman chairman
Medical-Dental council
indicated that the tes-
timonial dinner honoring
Rae Ann Sharfman on
Sept. 17 at Cong. Bnai
Moshe will greatly bene-
fit the new blood center.
Mrs. Sharfman, one of the
founders of the Michigan
Region, ARMDI, will be
honored for "displaying
exemplary dedication and
continuous generous sup-
port of life saving and far-
and national ARMDI
chairman Joseph Handle-
man will bring greetings on
behalf of Armdi, Magen
David Adorn and the new
Blood Center.
Cantor Louis Klein of
Bnai Moshe and Cantor
Samuel Greenbaum of
Cong. Beth Shalom will
perform a musical tribute
at the event.
Dinner chairman Myron
S. Steinberg pointed out
that an additional feature of
the new facility will be a
Garden of Remembrance.
On the walls of the garden
will be cited the names of
individual founder-patrons
or organization pillars in
tribute to their generosity.
Speaking on behalf of the
Michigan Region, Air: - 'T.,
Mames and Starkm,
marked, "This magnificent
and vitally needed project
deserves our complete sup-
port. We are confident that
our friends of MDA, the
entire community, will join
us in extending generous
assistance for the life saving
and far-reaching
humanitarian programs of
Magen David Adorn, Is-
rael's Emergency Medical
Services."
For reservations, call Dr.
Mames, 353-0433; David
Brenners 357-3571; or Mrs.
Felix Rosenzweig, 353-
4038, after 6 p.m.