Oldest Medicycle Volunteer Celebrates 80th Birthday
Alex Michigan will be celebrating his 80th birthday in just two weeks time
Alex Michigan is Magen David Adom's oldest Medicycle volunteer. In just a couple of weeks' time, he will celebrate his 80th birthday, and mark 50 years of volunteering with MDA. Alex is a Senior EMT and still volunteers on Mobile Intensive Care Units as well as his Medicycle.
Alex started his journey in 1970, when Tiberias and Bet She'an were being shelled from Jordan and Alex headed to the MDA station in Tiberius and started conveying patients to Poriya Hospital in the town. When he returned to the station, the manager - Boaz Norkin - said to him "From this moment on you belong here." Alex never left. Over the years, Alex has held many roles, including being a member of the national executive and as the deputy chief of an MDA mission to Oklahoma.
"There's one incident that I'll never forget," says Alex. "It was almost thirty years ago. A truck was travelling down the roads into Tiberias when the brakes suddenly failed. It was a truck that had been converted to carry children, and when we got there we started evacuating the children who had severe injuries. There were no seatbelts on the truck. Nothing."
"I still go out on calls, and volunteer on the MICU. Why do I keep doing it at my age? Because MDA is like a virus - a positive one of course - there's something about helping other people, about volunteering, and having the privilege to save the lives of the sick and injured. Wherever I go I can stand upright and people praise me for what I do. My wife and daughter keep pressuring me to get off the bike, but I can't. I'm addicted."
MDA Director General Eli Bin: "Our real strength has always been with the special, professional and exciting people who volunteer and work for us. Alex, the longest serving MDA Medicycle first responder is a true example of endless giving and round-the-clock life-saving activities. Over the decades that he has volunteered in Magen David Adom, Alex has saved thousands of sick and injured, during war and peace times, and he continues to do so on the MDA Medicycle, reaching anyone who needs his help."
