That Time When We Do Well By Doing Good

By RAPHAEL POCH
 On Thursday night, in the Tel Aviv convention center, WeWork held their bi-annual Creator Awards presentation in Israel. Entrepreneur Assaf Luxembourg who was heavily involved in the promotion and success of the MyMDband wrist strap received a creator award from the multi-national company whose estimated value is more than $20 billion.
 

The MyMDband is a medical bracelet that allows first responders and hospital medical personnel to quickly find out the relevant medical history of elderly patients in need of immediate care. It contains a personalized QR or Quick Response code, which provides instant access to a patient’s emergency medical information, anytime, anywhere and securely. The medical information is displayed for the medical staff in the local language, ensuring that the patient’s needs are communicated to the medical health provider.

The bands in Israel were built and distributed by United Hatzalah, who teamed up with MyMDband to distribute thousands of these bands to elderly patients, many of whom are Holocaust survivors. The patients are visited frequently by United Hatzalah volunteers under a program known as Ten Kavod. The program sees medical volunteers visit elderly people who live on their own at least once a week to check their vital signs and provide them with a social outlet. If the patient seems to have any medical issues, the volunteers will contact the patient’s doctor and or family members to alert them to the situation.
 

Thanks to Luxembourg’s involvement with the product innovation and promotion, he was selected by WeWork to present this device to the gathered crowd and received a monetary award worth 63,000 NIS. He immediately took the award, and in a generous act of loving-kindness donated it to United Hatzalah. His donation was then matched by WeWork Co-Founder and CEO, fellow countryman Adam Neumann.  

 

Luxembourg was ecstatic at the turn of events. He tweeted numerous times about how thankful he was to receive the award and to have his donation matched. He also wrote a special thank you note on his own website. “Thank you WeWork. I was humbled and honored to receive a Community Giver Award of 63,000 ILS at the 2017 WeWork Creator Awards in Israel. But more than that, I was so proud to be able to donate the entire prize right away, to the Israeli start-up that invented a technology for lifesaving medical emergency bracelets, and delivers them to Holocaust survivors, for free, for life. And then - to hear directly from WeWork's Co-Founder and CEO Adam Neumann that they will double the prize, and by that, match my donation.”

 
Luxembourg speaking during the ceremony - Credit: Twitter: Assaf Luxembourg
Luxembourg speaking during the ceremony - Credit: Twitter: Assaf Luxembourg

During his speech Luxembourg said that: “I believe that the best way to fight the challenges we currently face in today’s world is to show the true face of Israel. So I work to promote the entrepreneurship, innovation, and spirit of Israel. I am proud to be part of organizations and communities that believe in the mottos of “give before you get” and “do well by doing good”. Luxembourg especially thanked United Hatzalah for distributing the medical bracelets to the elderly and to hundreds of Holocaust survivors for free. He then donated his award money to the organization and was matched by WeWork’s doubling of the donation in a true gesture of doing well by doing good.

 

To see Luxembourg’s award acceptance speech, click here.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nH-2QwZrI_M