Kids for Kids

The Mevo'ot HaHermon municipality is located far north of Emek near the border with Lebanon.  It is a modest region not known for philanthropy or high incomes.  They are in the northern most region of Emek’s catchment base (two hours north of Afula) and the children in their Korazim Heights Elementary School had an idea. 

They have a traditional community fundraising event that this year was dedicated to road safety.  However, the children together with the school's educational staff, parents and the local council decided to take that one step further and raise money for a life-saving medical device designed to treat children injured in road accidents.  Many children who come to Emek’s Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) are victims of road accidents, some as car passengers, some as cyclists and some as pedestrians.  Preceding the Korazim Elementary School decision, a child who was forgotten in an overheated car was saved when a device from the adult Intensive Care Unit was fortunately not in use.  That was the catalyst for Dr. Zamir, senior PICU physician, to ask for help in acquiring the same system for his unit. The decision was made to target the fundraising for a CritiCool™ induced hypothermia system.  With so many tragic summer cases of children being forgotten in hot cars, this device offers hope when 70% of these cases usually end in death. 

CritiCool’s clever algorithm for core temperature control offers precise cooling to a programmed set-point temperature. Continuous temperature feedback from the patient enables automatic temperature regulation and monitoring. A controlled rewarming mode assists in preventing complications during this sensitive phase. 

The fundraising event was attended by students, parents, the Council Head, educational staff, local residents and the Road Safety Coordinator.  Dr. Zamir and PICU Head Nurse, Shoshanna were invited to take part.  Dr. Zamir told his attentive audience, “I hope there will not be any more such forgotten children in the summer, but if there are, then they may be saved by your donations.  The students and their parents set up sales stands on the school grounds (selling baked goods and assorted paraphernalia) and by the end of the event raised the equivalent of just under $2,000 for the life saving device.  An amazing amount from such a modest community of loving souls. 

Seeing young students being educated and imbued with the value of giving to the community and to a hospital is both exciting and inspirational.  More funds are needed to acquire the CritiCool system for the PICU (total cost $15,000) and other local schools are being organized to join this quest.  You too are invited to take part.