Sea, sun and good purpose - what else do you need? For the third time, the 25th of May, the International Social Race - "Swimming from the Heart - Cape Hacarmel", took place around the shores of Haifa. Hundreds of swimmers of different ages, from Israel and abroad, jumped to the Mediterranean Sea and participated in four swimming pools with different levels of difficulty, and the Paralympic delegation took part in the swimming pool, a joint venture between Rambam, Haifa Municipality, , And is dedicated to raising awareness and mobilizing funding for groundbreaking research, prediction and prevention of Sudden Cardiac Death in children and young adults.
At the end of the festivities, a huge happening took place at the Dado beach, with the participation of the swimmers and their families, senior members of Rambam, representatives of the Sports Authority of the Haifa Municipality and Shwang, who enjoyed good music and massages for swimmers.
A new record set in the current race was the largest swimmer team to date in the very long 7.6km race, with Ramat Hasharon winning the longest, 5.5 km long win with Amit Roth, 15, from Kiryat Ata, Aharonson-Roth, a nurse in the neonatal department at the Rambam Health Care Campus.
The tradition of "swim from the heart" events brought over 650 swimmers to each ointment, professional and amateurs, who took part in various hikes, from the Cape of the Carmel along the beautiful beaches of Haifa. Mass mobilization led to tens of thousands of dollars each year contributing to the important goal, but the goal is still far away and the tradition continues.
One of the participants who attracted the most attention in the first ointment was Guy Cohen, who before 15 had forgotten his six-year-old daughter Neta. On her first day in first grade, Neta collapsed without warning and died of cardiac arrest. Cohen closed the circle by participating in the "swim from the heart" 2016 and set a record: the first Israeli ever to swim for 24 hours in open water for more than 70 kilometers, all in order to raise awareness of sudden death in children. This year, in 2017, Rebecca Sonny, an Olympic medalist from the USA, a delegation of American and Dutch swimmers, Paralympic swimmer Ilanit Yurman, Rambam staff and hospital patients participated in the initiative.
"It is heartwarming to see this humanitarian mobilization for our cause," says Prof. Rafi Beyar, Rambam's director. "Every year more people come to become an integral part of this important goal. There are many things we can do today to treat heart disease, but in recent years we have been emphasizing the issue of prevention among those in risk groups. Research and development protocols and new drugs can help us understand these mechanisms better and save their lives. "
The heart disease, including sudden cardiac death, is still the number one cause of death in the United States and in the Western world in general, and in cases of genetic disorders not diagnosed, the patient, older or younger, receives no warning signs before the fatal moment, Rambam is promoting multidisciplinary research that is collaborating with outstanding researchers, experts from Rambam, researchers from the Technion and leading bodies from the biomedical industry in the hospital environment, which can contribute to the development and implementation of an innovative, preventive and therapeutic method , To those at high risk for sudden death, worldwide.