02 Mar LOIS POPE DEDICATES 13TH AMBULANCE TO MAGEN DAVID ADOM
Philanthropist expresses love for life-saving organization, Israel’s Pre-Hospital Emergency Services
Some people like to give roses and other flowers on Valentine’s Day. Others prefer bestowing a box of fine chocolates on their friends and loved ones. And still others prefer offering a nice piece of jewelry to their beloved.
But for philanthropist Lois Pope, Valentine’s Day served as an opportunity to give something much more valuable and a lot less materialistic: the gift of life, itself. Indeed, the Manalapan resident and humanitarian dedicated her 13th ambulance, a mobile intensive care unit, for Magen David Adom, Israel’s National Emergency Organization.
“Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, and it’s fitting that this event is right at the time of that holiday, because the symbol of everyone who supports Magen David Adom is the heart,” said Mrs. Pope. “All of you has a heart that cares, a heart that has compassion, a heart committed to making a difference by rescuing and saving lives. Making a difference is what this great organization is all about.”
Mrs. Pope praised the volunteers and professionals who dedicate their time, energies and resources for Magen David Adom, noting that, “once again your efforts are in the news — these past few weeks Israel was hit with severe weather and flash flooding. MDA mobilized in advance, increasing staffing of EMTs and paramedics and adding 4 x 4 vehicles to its fleet to insure a rapid response to all incidents. As a result, people were rescued and lives were saved.”
And that’s what philanthropist and humanitarian Lois Pope loves to do. In fact, the 13th ambulance she donated and dedicated to MDA makes her the largest non-Jewish funder of mobile medical intensive care units for the State of Israel.
“We call these ambulances ‘the Lois Pope life-saving fleet’,” said Tamura Karu, Palm Beach County director for the American Friends of Magen David Adom. “Through her generosity to Magen David Adom, Mrs. Pope continues to have a meaningful and direct impact on emergency first response care in Israel. The Israeli people are eternally grateful for her commitment.”
Mrs. Pope said she considers the latest MDA donation, “my Bat Mitzvah ambulance. I know that when Jewish girls and boys turn 13, they celebrate becoming ‘B’nei Mitzvah,’ the ritual coming of age in their religion. And during the ceremony they both get gifts and give to charity. So, while I am not quite 13 years old, I still wanted to continue this wonderful tradition.”
By donating her 13th ambulance to MDA to help further its work and help save the lives of rocket and terrorist attack victims, heart attack victims, and others in need of emergency care, Mrs. Pope said, “I’m not just helping give the gift of life, I’m getting the same thing in return. I really feel that my life is so much more fulfilled and meaningful because I’m doing this.”
She continued, “I have long been committed to the mission of Magen David Adom and so today, I am here to dedicate my 13th ambulance to MDA, in honor of my dear friends Linda and Al Adelson and in memory of Judi Richards.”
The ambulances donated by Mrs. Pope over the years have played a vital role in Israel, providing aid and emergency transportation to everyone from victims of rocket and terrorist attacks to victims of heart attacks and auto accidents. They’ve also served as the birthplace for some of the more than 100 babies that are born annually in Magen David Adom ambulances in route to the hospital.
Magen David Adom is an organization of trained volunteer and professional medical responders mandated by the Israeli government to provide the nation’s pre-hospital emergency medical care, including disaster, ambulance and blood services. The MDA National Blood Services Center provides 100 percent of the blood needs of the Israel Defense Forces and 97 percent of the blood needs of Israel’s hospitals. American Friends of Magen David Adom funded the construction of the MDA National Blood Services Center and are now constructing a facility to replace that building, the Marcus National Blood Service Center, which will have twice the blood-processing capacity and be reinforced against missile, chemical, and biological attack. MDA continues to build or renovate many of MDA’s emergency medical stations throughout Israel, and supply MDA with a wide range of emergency medical supplies and equipment, including most of the organization’s 1,100 ambulances and Mobile Intensive Care Units (MICUs) and most of its 600 Medicycles. MDA’s ambulances are on call 24/7, logging nearly 10 million miles and caring for more than 900,000 patients annually. For more information, visit www.afmda.org.
About Lois Pope, The Lois Pope LIFE Foundation, Inc., & LIFE (Leaders in Furthering Education)
As one of America’s leading philanthropists, Lois Pope has positively impacted the lives of individuals at the local, national and international levels. She has established three different organizations dedicated to helping those in need – those who are disadvantaged, marginalized, or forgotten because of disabilities, socio-economic status, neglect, age, abuse, and other barriers. They are the Lois Pope LIFE Foundation, Leaders in Furthering Education (LIFE), and the Disabled Veterans LIFE Memorial Foundation. She is the driving force behind the American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial, the nation’s first and only permanent public tribute to the four million-plus living American disabled veterans; a National Day of Honor for Disabled Veterans every October 5; the Lois Pope LIFE Center at the University of Miami School of Medicine, home to the Miami Project/Buoniconti Fund to Cure Paralysis, the world’s foremost research center for paralysis; a summer camp program serving thousands of disadvantaged children in Florida; a scholarship program for low-income students of enormous potential who desired to attend medical school and then go back to serve in their home communities; a program offering researchers with the means to pursue cutting-edge work in finding cures for terrible diseases; a clean water system in a Guatemalan village; an effort to aid refugee women in Sudan; and numerous partnerships with American Humane to expand rescue operations for dogs (cats and other animals) victimized by natural disasters and horrific abuse, as well as those who have fought alongside human soldiers on the front lines of Iraq and Afghanistan. Most recently, she made a $12 million gift to establish the Lois Pope Center for Retinal and Macular Degeneration Research at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute’s Palm Beach Gardens campus, the largest donation ever to the institute; and a $1.5 million donation to fund the Lois Pope Pet Clinic at Tri-County Animal Rescue to provide low-income families with access for medical care, saying and neutering and medicine for their pets. She has also produced two documentaries with award-winning director Ric Burns highlighting the plights of disabled veterans in the U.S. “Debt of Honor” and “VA: The Human Cost of War” and another documentary with Mr. Burns on the ages-old human-canine bond. To learn more visit www.life-edu.org.