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Israeli scientist says
Chernobyl is warning
by Hugh Or gel
TEL AVIV (JTA) — Dr. Yair
Reisner, the Weizmann Institute
biophysicist who Hew to the Soviet
Union to help Russian doctors
treat victims of the Chernobyl
nuclear accident, returned from
Moscow Sunday night with a grim
prognosis for those who suffered
radiation poisoning and a sober
warning that the Western coun
tries are no better equipped than
the Soviet Union to cope with the
medical casualties of nuclear
accidents.
Reisner, who volunteered his
expertise in bone marrow and cell
sorting techniques after the Soviets
finally made known the full extent
of the Chernobyl disaster last
month, also reported that he entered
the USSR with his Israeli passport
without a Soviet visa. He said he
was met at Moscow airport by
Ministry of Health officials who
issued him a visa on the spot, well
aware that he is an Israeli.
Reisner said that of the 299 per
sons directly affected by the acci
dent at the Chernobyl nuclear power
station—technicians, fire-fighters
and guards who were inside the
building—35 were severely ill with
radiation poisoning.
But bone marrow transplants
could be performed on only 19 and
another six victims were beyond
treatment, he said. Others were not
believed to be in urgent need of
transplants. For those who received
them, it will not be known for
another three weeks whether the
procedure was successful, he said.
The 38-year-old Israel-born
scientist said at a press conference
here that the Israeli authorities
knewofhistripto Moscow to take
part in health rescue work together
with a small team of American
doctors. He had been invited by
Or Robert Gale, an American
bone-marrow surgeon who plans
to return to Moscow' later this
week to check on the results. Reisner
said he had no plans to return.
He said he and the Americans
worked with a Soviet woman doc
tor who was well acquainted with
his marrow separation and tissue
transplant techniques from read
ing about them in international
medical and scientific publications.
He said the team brought 16 crates
of equipment to Moscow and he
was able to set up his laboratory
within 24 hours of his arrival.
Reisner and his American col
leagues had warm praise for the
Soviet medical team they worked
with at Moscow Hospital No. 6.
But according to Reisner, mod
ern medical facilities have some
way to go to fully meet the demands
of potential nuclear accidents in
the future. “No countries in the
West are really prepared for such
accidents.”
The Southern
Israelite
The Weekly Newspaper For Southern Jewry
'Since 1925'
Vol. LXII Atlanta, Georgia, Friday, May 23, 1986 No. 21
Mideast tensions ease
as Israel, Syria cool it
by Yaacov Ben Yosef
Special to The Southern Israelite
JERUSALEM—Tensions be
tween Israel and Syria have eased
this week, with Prime Minister
Shimon Peres saying that he did
not foresee war with Damascus.
Meanwhile, Minister Without
Portfolio Ezer Weizman has been
in Washington to seek help in
resolving the continuing Taba
problem with Egypt.
Israeli and Egyptian officials
began another round of talks in
Herzylia Monday; both sides op
timistically suggested this might be
the last round before the sticky
issue is turned over to arbitration.
Israel and Egypt remain at odds
over the sandy strip of Red Sea
beach in Sinai called Taba.
All week long the war scare
between Israel and Syria kept offi
cials in Jerusalem nervous. Israel
made public last week that Syria
had built artillary emplacements
just north of the security zone in
south Lebanon. The Syrian em
placements were in an area evacu
ated by Israel last year; Israel had
warned the Syrians to stay out of
that region.
Israeli officials grew concerned
that Syria might decide to man
those emplacements either to en
courage terrorism against Israel’s
northern settlements or as a pre
lude to a major attack against
Israel.
Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin
told the Cabinet Sunday that Syrian
army engineering units continue to
work on those emplacements.
But, finally over the weekend
Syrian President Hafez el-Assad
noted in interviews that tension
between Israel and Syria has
appreciably decreased in the past
See Tension, page 24.
Improving quality of life
Spina bifida victims to benefit from joint projects
by Vida Goldgar
SSC was sought because it is the
United States' largest rehabilita
tion facility dedicated to the treat
ment of spinal cord injury and dis
ease and in 1985 launched a spina
bifida program that teaches in
creased independence and sociali
zation skills.
David Sarnat, Judy Reinoehl, Lauren Felder Bacon and David F. Apple Jr. after press conference.
A new cooperative relationship
between Atlanta’s Shepherd Spi
nal Center and the Alyn Hospital
in Jerusalem is expected to con
tribute significantly to an improved
quality of life for children and
young adults born with spina bif
ida. Alyn Hospital is Israel’s only
children’s orthopedic/ rehabilitation
hospital.
The program was announced
last Friday at a press conference at
the Shepherd Spinal Center less
than 48 hours after the return of an
SSC medical team and David I.
Sarnat, executive director of the
Atlanta Jewish Federation, from
meetings in Israel with Alyn staff
members.
Dr. David F. Apple Jr., an or
thopedic surgeon and SSC’s medi
cal director, said, “The goal of this
joint endeavor is to promote coop
eration between nations in a pro
ject that we hope will benefit child
ren who have spina bifida.” Other
Shepherd staff members who made
the trip were: Lauren Felder Bacon,
R.N., M.N., director of patient
services; Judy Reinoehl, R.N.,
M.N., director of nursing; and
Barbara Leidheiser, T.R.S., direc
tor of recreation therapy.
The joint program, which was
initiated by the Atlanta Jewish
Federation, had its beginnings at a
bilateral conference between the
United States and Israel held in
1983 at Temple University in Phi
ladelphia. “One result of that con
ference was a Memorandum of
Understanding, signed in January
1984 between the U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services and
the Ministry of Labor and Social
Affairs of the state of Israel,” Sar
nat said, adding that the agree
ment’s aim was “the delivery of
human services and developing
cooperative programs that would
share information.” One of the
areas that was identified initially,
Sarnat explained, was that of
developmental disabilities. “The
facilitating agency was the Council
of Jewish Federations (the umbrella
organization of Jewish Federations
throughout the United States and
Canada), which made the Atlanta
Jewish Federation aware of the
program.” Discussions with peo
ple involved at the Shepherd Spi
nal Center revealed SSC’s interest
in spina bifida services and the
connection was made with Alyn, a
facility noted for its works in the
spina bifida field.
Spina bifida is a birth defect in
which the lower end of the spinal
column is open because vertebrae
have failed to develop around the
spinal cord. This causes a lump on
the spine and permanent damage
to the spinal cord and nerves, with
varying degrees of paralysis in the
lower extremities resulting. In the
United States alone, more than
11,000 children each year are born
with spina bifida. In Georgia, the
rate is 1.7 per thousand births and
it is slightly higher in Israel.
Sarnat said the participation of
Dr. Apple said, "After lengthy
discussions with Dr. Shirley Meyer
(Alyn Hospital’s medical director)
and her staff, several areas were
identified where we thought there
would be mutual opportunity to
help each other.”
The direction in care at the two
facilities is quite different, he says.
“In Israel, many of the children are
institutionalized at Alyn. Here they
are brought up at home. We have
different ways of managing the
same problem and we feel we can
learn from each other and come up
with a combination program w hich
takes the best of both and provides
a good adult spina bifida program."
Sarnat said. “By developing a
formal exchange program on re
search and the administration of
spina bifida programs and ser
vices, these two leading facilities
can develop a model for spina bif
ida services that can be adapted for
use throughout the world.”
What has made such informa
tion especially important has been
the progress in treatment of the
See Spina Bifida, page 24.
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