Community Magazine May 2021

IYAR-SIVAN 5781 / MAY 2021 39 CPI ’ s Huge Impact The Covid Plasma Initiative Foundation, now a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, has made such an impact that it has relieved the burden of already-crushed hospital wards, and has facilitated plasma donations that likely would not have been obtained on such a large scale. In fact, in just a few short weeks after CPI was started, their donors reportedly supplied half of the country’s plasma, so streamlined and efficient was their operation. The initiative says it “directly continues to impact hospitals’ ability to treat coronavirus patients in an unprecedented way, alongside other emerging treatment methods.” They boast the “widest network of medical affiliations in America for plasma donations.” Its network also includes dozens of organizations and religious institutions, such as Orthodox Union and Agudath Israel. Chaim Ozer Dessler Steps in, Creates Vital Hotline Chaim Ozer Dessler joined the CPI team last November when monoclonal antibody treatment received its EUA from the FDA. CPI’s goal was to educate and bring awareness of this lifesaving treatment to our communities in the effort to lower hospitalization and death rates. “The sooner you get the treatment, the more effective it is,” he insists. “As soon as you become symptomatic, and have a positive COVID test, get an infusion. Most patients’ symptoms subside in less than two days.” To streamline what was once a time-consuming and confusing multi-step process, Dessler created and set up a 24/7 hotline to facilitate the monoclonal antibody treatment. “When somebody calls, within the next few hours they’re getting their infusion. It’s absolutely incredible. We work with all of the treatment centers that offer it throughout the country. It’s a very complicated area to navigate, and we’ve got it down to a science. We match each patient to an infusion center based on time, location, and qualifying risk factors. Physicians themselves are asking how they can get it for their own patients,” he says. The impact of this initiative has been that thousands of lives were saved, thousands who could have gotten very sick did not, and thousands of potential hospital patients were able to remain at home, Dessler reports. To those men and women who have volunteered their time to bring even one donor in, or made a single infusion possible, kol hakavod – you have, as in the famous words of the Talmud, saved an entire universe. Hotline Information For information on how COVID positive patients can access monoclonal antibody treatment, please contact the 24/7 CPI hotline at 828-4-PLASMA or visit them at Plasmaheroes.com . “ As soon as you become symptomatic, and have a positive COVID test, get an infusion. Most patients ’ symptoms subside in less than two days. ” SHOP ELEGANT 1263 RIVER AVENUE 732.256.8444 / S-TH 10-6 | F 10-2 VISIT OUR 2 LAKEWOOD LOCATIONS BORO PARK 5719 NEW UTRECHT AVE. 718.871.3535 S-TH 10-6 | T 10-8 | F 10-2 MIDWOOD 1910 AVE. M 718.972.3535 S-TH 10:30-6:30 | 10-2 6776 RT. 9 S. HOWELL 732.905.944 / S-TH 10-6 | F 10-2 SHOP ONLINE ELEGANTLINEN.COM