Made in Acadiana: Local PPE manufacturer donates to Israeli search & rescue effort
October 20, 2023
Broussard, La. - Sixty thousand nitrile gloves and 24,000 procedure masks proudly made in the USA are headed to Israel, donated by SafeSource Direct and the American Medical Manufacturers Association (AMMA). These items were shipped to ZAKA Search and Rescue Volunteers in Israel on October 16.
As the leading trade group representing PPE manufacturers in America, AMMA has activated its network to help in the wake of the October 7 terror attacks on Israel.
“The AMMA ecosystem in the US is uniquely qualified to meet many urgent needs in Israel for PPE,” said AMMA Executive Director Eric Axel. He added, “With the help of Health IL, we located ZAKA and put our collective resources into action.”
ZAKA Search and Rescue saves lives through paramedic services. ZAKA also provides search and rescue on the emotional and highly distressing work for honoring the dead and ensuring a full Jewish burial for those who meet a sudden death.
Justin Hollingsworth, President at SafeSource Direct, said, “We know organizations in Israel need our help. We welcomed the opportunity to step forward to honor and save lives impacted by terror with our made-in-America nitrile gloves and procedure masks.”
HealthIL facilitated this relationship between ZAKA, SafeSource Direct, and AMMA. They are the national ecosystem for health tech in Israel.
Yoav Fisher, Head of Strategy at HealthIL stated, “Healthcare organizations find themselves on the frontlines in a time of crisis. We were pleased to be able to connect these two organizations and to support this critical work.
He added, “We recognize this is not a war against the residents of Gaza. It is a war against the radical, violent terrorist organization of Hamas. Today, Israel is on the front line of a global war against terrorist organizations. Ensuring our first responders and crisis workers have the necessary resources is imperative."
ZAKA Search and Rescue stated their storehouses are nearly empty. In a public statement attributed to Chief Operations Officer Mati Goldstein, he said, “It is beyond human comprehension, and the soul cannot contain it. This is a murder of such brutality that we’ve only heard of in Holocaust stories, and we told ourselves it would never happen again. Our equipment for collecting and handling corpses lasted us for FOUR YEARS, and instead, in just THREE DAYS, our warehouses are empty.”