MDA Remembers the Fallen - Memorial Day 2019
MDA EMTs and paramedics are deployed all over the country in order to medically secure Memorial Day events, memorial sites and military cemeteries where memorial Ceremonies will be held. MDA has 138 families who lost their loved ones in Israel's wars, hostile acts or during their military service. Just as in previous years the Main ceremony was held in the MDA Headquarter in the presence of the organization's management, bereaved families, employees and volunteers.
One of MDA's previous employees was Rabbi Dr. David Yaakov HaLevi Appelbaum, who was killed in a suicide bombing in Jerusalem in 2003. Rabbi Dr. Appelbaum was born in the US in 1952. He got his Bachelor's degree in psychology in 1972 and his master's degree in biology two years later. As he continued his studies he became a doctor in 1978. In 1977 Rabbi Dr. Appelbaum married and moved to Jerusalem with his wife and two children in 1981. Once in Jerusalem they continued to have an additional four children.
Rabbi Dr. Appelbaum began his career at MDA in Jerusalem in 1983, when he managed the MICU array in Jerusalem, a position he held until his last day. In addition Rabbi Dr. Appelbaum founded and ran the "TEREM" emergency medical center, which operates out of MDA's Jerusalem station. He was appointed Director of the Emergency Medicine Department at Shaare Zedek Hospital in Jerusalem in 2002, and throughout this period he continued his role in the MICU array of MDA.
On Tuesday, September 9th 2003, a suicide bomber blew up the explosives he was carrying on his body in "Hillel" a cafe on Emek Refaim Street in Jerusalem. Seven people were killed in the attack, including Rabbi Dr. David Yaakov Halevy Appelbaum and his daughter Nava Appelbaum, who was killed the day before her wedding. Rabbi Dr. Appelbaum was 50 years old when he died, leaving behind his wife, two sons, three daughters and his sister. Rabbi Dr. Appelbaum and his daughter Nava were buried side by side in a cemetery in Jerusalem.
Dr. David Appelbaum, who was one of the most important figures in the emergency medicine field in Israel, helped develop the concept based on an urgent care center model, which at the time, already existed in the US. The urgent care center will function as an alternative emergency room, treating a variety of urgent cases that do not require a hospital's resources. He treated hundreds of cases including accidents, traumas, heart attacks and terrorist attack. In one terror attack in Jerusalem he operated on a patient in the field. For courage he showed he received the "Knesset Speaker for Quality of Life" award in 1986. His noble example continues to be a cause for inspiration and admiration within his family, employees, students, colleagues, and thousands of patients who have come to know him and learn from him.
MDA Director-General Eli Bin: "Unfortunately, over the years, since the establishment of the State of Israel, there have been more and more bereaved families. Among the victims, one of the best people in the MDA family, Rabbi Dr. David Appelbaum, was killed along with his daughter Nava in a brutal terrorist attack. Rabbi Dr. Appelbaum's untimely death is an unbearable loss and his memory will continue on with us throughout the years. I stand by the Appelbaum family who are the salt of the earth. They have followed in Rabbi Dr. Appelbaum's footsteps, and volunteered in MDA. MDA workers and volunteers embrace the family and all the bereaved families in the State of Israel throughout the year, and especially on this difficult day, may we know no more sorrow. "
