22 | APRIL 9 • 2020
A
fter recovering from
COVID-19 last month,
Rabbi Daniel Nevins, the
former Adat Shalom Synagogue
rabbi, is partaking in a blood
plasma experimental treatment
trial at Mount Sinai Hospital in
New York.
Nevins lived in Farmington
Hills for 13 years and was the
rabbi at Adat Shalom from
1994-2007. He is now living in
Manhattan, where he is the dean
of the rabbinical school at the
Jewish Theological Seminary.
On March 12, Nevins was
tested for COVID-19 and
received his results back on
March 19 — he tested positive.
“Fortunately, my symptoms
were not very dreadful. I had a
little fever, was feeling very tired
and I had a lot of headache and
muscle ache in general,” Nevins
told the Jewish News. “I was
fortunate enough to just stay at
home and allow myself to heal.”
After his recovery, Nevins
heard about a COVID-19
experimental treatment from
his daughter’
s friend, who is a
medical student at Mount Sinai
Hospital. He went the following
day to take a test to confirm that
he no longer had COVID-19
and that he had antibodies pres-
ent. By March 27, Nevins was
sitting in the New York Blood
Center donating blood plasma.
“I am a frequent blood donor,
but this is a completely different
process,” Nevins said. “Normally
when you donate blood it just
comes out of your vein pretty
quickly, but here, since they are
taking your platelets, they use an
apheresis machine which takes
out part of the blood and then
returns the platelets together
with some saline so you don’
t
get so drained … literally.”
On March 24, the Food and
Drug Administration (FDA)
announced that doctors could
treat critically ill COVID-19
patients with plasma from
recovered patients on an exper-
imental basis. Doctors who are
interested in participating in
these experimental trials must
seek approval from the FDA
first.
Plasma has been shown effec-
tive in treating other infectious
diseases, like polio, measles and
influenza. Patients must meet
certain criteria and provide
informed consent to be eligible
for COVID-19 experimental
treatment trials.
“Normally I wouldn’
t be tell-
ing the world about my health
situation, but in this case it was
worth it because a lot more
people heard about this pro-
gram and were able to come in
and donate,” Nevins said. “This
seemed to be one of the few
things, until there is a vaccine
available, that might actually
help people recover. I was fortu-
nate enough to be in a position
where I could donate to this
treatment trial.”
Jews in the D
COURTESY OF RABBI NEVINS
Making a Difference
Former Detroit rabbi recovers from coronavirus,
donates blood plasma to experimental treatment.
CORRIE COLF STAFF WRITER
Rabbi Daniel
Nevins at the
New York
Blood Center.
T
he Well, Metro Detroit’
s
nationally recognized
organization for Jewish
young professionals, has hired
Metro Detroit native Marni
Katz as its new family educator
beginning this summer.
Katz will oversee The Well’
s
young family activities, includ-
ing Tot Shabbat, Young Family
Shabbat Playgroups and the
monthly family education
series.
“The Well is really innovative
in the way that they approach
the Jewish community,” Katz
told the Jewish News. “I am
excited to be a part of that and
work with the new team to see
what we can grow.”
Katz has lived in Chicago
for the past 15 years. She grew
up in West Bloomfield, attend-
ed Harrison High School in
Farmington Hills and graduat-
ed with a bachelor’
s degree and
a master of social work from
the University of Michigan.
For the last 14 years, Katz
served as director of JCC
Chicago’
s Apachi Day Camp
program, where she managed
activities for nearly 700 kids
each summer.
During her free time, Katz
enjoys writing for her blog,
Simple Gray T-Shirt, cooking,
baking and making fun crafts
with her two daughters, Tilly
and Poppy.
“My blog is really created
to help moms and families,
especially ones with little kids,
keep things a little bit simpler
around the house,” Katz said.
“It’
s a lot of simple recipes,
things that can be done quickly
that are pretty family-friendly,
and also just tips and tricks
about organization and sched-
uling. My motto for my blog
and my life is that, ‘
life should
be as simple as your favorite
gray T-shirt.’
”
Katz and her husband,
Stuart, will move back to Metro
Detroit with their two daugh-
ters this summer.
CORRIE COLF - STAFF WRITER
The Metro Detroit native returns back
to her roots to lead The Well’
s young
family offerings.
Marni Katz to Become The
Well’s New Family Educator
COURTESY OF MARNI KATZ
Marni with her
husband, Stuart,
and daughters,
Tilly and Poppy