(L-R) - Joseph Franco, Helen Franco, Joshua Plaut, Leah Bregman, Judy Elkin, Amb. Daniel Ayalon, Dr. Dan Oppenheim, Chagit Lipson, Dr. Robert Bregman, Dr. Ron Jordan, Cheryl Jordan, and Robert Sandalman
Dr. Robert Bregman and Helen Franco organized the AFRMC Florida chapter to sponsor a community forum in Boca Raton, Florida, with Israeli Ambassador Daniel Ayalon as keynote speaker on February 24, 2005. Fresh from his attendance at Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in Sharm-el-Sheikh with Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, Amb. Ayalon reflected on the current situation, saying, "The break from terror attacks could not be credited to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Hamas and Islamic Jihad have decided not to attack right now for political reasons. They are, in fact, rearming and can attack at will whenever it is in their interest to do so." The Ambassador thanked the community for its steadfast support of Israel and appealed to them to "visit, invest and take political action in support of the Jewish state, and to especially support the Rabin Medical Center." Dr. Dan Oppenheim, CEO of Rabin Medical Center, addressed the many new friends of the hospital, urging them to visit and to support the hospital in its efforts to provide the very best healthcare for the citizens of Israel.
Two families donated the organs of their brain-dead loved ones over the weekend, resulting in eight organ transplants in hospitals around the country.
For the first time in Israel, Rabin Medical Center's Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, headed by Dr. Eyal Porat, implanted an artificial heart as a replacement for a real heart.
Astrategic collaboration was signed at the end of the 2005
calendar year between Clalit Health Services and GE
Healthcare (GEHC).