Bay Area Swimmers Participate in “Swim From the Heart” Meet in Haifa

On May 29, 2018, Bay area residents, Levy Gerzberg (Los Altos), Josh Bernstein (Piedmont), Eric Schleelein (San Francisco) and Peter Gertler (Oakland), traveled to Israel to participate in the 3rd International “Swim From the Heart” meet in Haifa on the Mediterranean.

Levy Gerzberg, founder of the Zoran Corporation, a multinational digital technology created “Swim From The Heart” three years ago.  An avid open water swimmer, he has since lead a US delegation of fellow swimmers who travel to Israel’s Haifa Bay to join hundreds of other swimmers in one mission—to increase awareness of Sudden Cardiac Death (SCD).

Swim from the Heart raises critical research funds to predict and prevent Sudden Cardiac Death in children and young adults – a major cause of natural death worldwide.

Inspired by open-water swimmers from Northern California, participants from all over the world swim in one of four heats (ranging from 1 km to 7.6 km) in Haifa Bay – in support of SCD research and developing new treatments at Rambam Health Care Campus.

Also known as the capital of northern Israel, Haifa is the sister city of San Francisco, and both have passionate bay swimmers.

Levy Gerzberg, a member of the Board of American Friends of Rambam said, “The reason I do the swim is to help the Rambam research team make an enormous potential life-saving impact by developing solutions to predict and prevent Sudden Cardiac Death in children and adults worldwide.”