Magen David Adorn workers
and IDF personnel help take
a wounded soldier out of
southern Israel.

Magen David Adorn aids IDF combat soldiers
as well as Israeli population.

Keri Guten Cohen

Story Development Editor

y

onatan Yagodovsky knows first-
hand the importance of Magen
David Adorn in Israel, espe-
cially during war.
During the 50 days of Operation
Protective Edge, MDA teams all
over Israel were on a record high
alert, manning all the rescue vehi-
cles of the organization, including
about 1,000 ambulances, Mobile
Intensive Care Units, Jeepbulances, 4x4
vehicles, MDA medicycles and more.
All MDA personnel, includ-
ing about 1,800 workers and
about 12,000 volunteers took part in the
high alert and activities of MDA in order
to save lives.
"MDA is not government funded:'
Yagodovsky said. "Most Israelis don't
realize that. In times of war, people
understand they have to step up:'
During Operation Protective Edge,
MDA teams also treated 33 people who
were injured by shattered glass and
building debris, 18 injured in road traffic
accidents that occurred when the sirens
were heard, including one person in
serious condition, and the rest lightly
or moderately wounded. MAD also
treated 159 people injured as a result
of falling and trauma on the way to the
shelters and 581 people suffered anxiety
attacks.
Yagodovsky, director of international
affairs and fundraising for MDA, was

48 September 4 • 2014

Above: Temple Israel Rabbi Jennifer
Kaluzny, Carrie Immerman of AFMDA,
TI Executive Director David Tisdale
and Yonatan Yagodovsky of MDA

in Metro Detroit last month to brief
community members about his orga-
nization at an event at Temple Israel in
West Bloomfield where an ambulance
given by Max and Judy Robins of West
Bloomfield was dedicated.
Children from the Temple Israel day
camp and their parents brought so
many packages of adhesive bandages
that they nearly filled the back of an
ambulance.
"They climbed in the back door of

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the ambulance to put in their packages;
they were so happy they could partici-
pate in the effort:' Yagodovsky said. "We
shipped the ambulance to Israel filled
with their packages:'
Erik Levis of American Friends of
MDA in New York said, "Support from
the U.S. is really appreciated. They feel
the support and are not so alone when
they go out in the field:'
Yagodovsky understands this person-
ally.
At the station in Jerusalem, someone
knew I was going to the U.S.," he said.
"He told me, 'Tell them each time I'm
on a call for an Intensive Care Unit, the
donors and their support are with me:"
Aside from serving the Israeli popula-
tion on a daily basis with everything
from heart attacks to births, MDA/Israel
ambulances are aiding the war effort.
"Teams from the north of Israel have
reinforced stations hardest hit in the
south:' Yagodovsky said. "This gives local
teams respite, time to celebrate Shabbat.
Some MDA volunteers live in places hard-
est hit and are treating their neighbors:'
Closer to areas of conflict, MDA vol-
unteers go in in bulletproof cars to take
the injured out to ambulances waiting 10
minutes away in more protected areas.
"Meanwhile, routine EMS work contin-
ues:' Yagodovsky said. "MDA ambulances
carry flak jackets and helmets designed
specifically for Israel. It's not a lot of fun
to be in an ambulance with a patient and
there's a siren. You stop at the side of the
road. You need protective gear for the
patient, too, and then you seek cover by
the side of the road. Imagine a patient
with a heart attack or having a baby:'
MDA also acts as the nation's blood
bank. During Operation Protective Edge,
blood drives have been held in shelters
and in places in the south, and among
IDF soldiers as well as civilians. A fun-
draising drive is under way for a new
underground blood center in place of the
one in Ramat Gan.
Each summer, young volunteers from
other countries come to volunteer in
MDA stations; many have done so from
Metro Detroit.
"This year we had 75 kids from 12
countries [signed up] and only eight did
not come:' Yagodovsky said. "And only
five out of 87 left the country from the
earlier group. They are fighting to get
shifts and eager to go:'

❑

chavorm ..a

WAIL,

Judy
Robins
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The Dr. John J. Mames Chapter-Michigan

Region of the AFMDA will hold its Celebration

of Life Gala at 5:30 p.m. Sept. 11 at

Congregation Beth Ahm in West Bloomfield.

Guest speaker will be Dr. Eilat Shinar, director

of MDA's blood bank. Call Can Immerman at

1-877-405-3913 to see if reservations can still

Max and Judy Robins of West Bloomfield
with the ambulance they donated

be taken. To donate, call Immerman or go to

www.afmda.org/mames-gala.