Glendale Adventist doctors, nurses travel to Armenia on a mission of health
A team of physicians and nurses carried out a medical mission in a rural Armenian village last month and also donated a pair of ambulances.
Thirty-one staffers from Glendale Adventist Medical Center, in a joint effort with Armenia Fund, provided free healthcare for a week in the northeastern town of Noyemberyan.
Those who went on the trip said the city of Yerevan is well staffed, but smaller villages were lacking in resources.
“It’s a financial issue for these people,” said Dr. Armond Kotikian, a surgeon. “But the whole idea was going to teach the physicians there and train them American standards that they can learn and apply to their patients.”
He was one of three surgeons who went abroad to Noyemberyan Hospital and performed oral operations to fix cleft palates on children and newborns.
A team of 10 primary care physicians also screened 800 people and provided free medications.
“You can contribute funds and donate money, but the only tangible way you can make a difference is going there and directly helping the people who need help,” said Dr. Simon Keushkerian, one of the surgeons who removed gallbladders and did hernia surgeries.
He said while the doctors in Noyemberyan know what they are doing, it sometimes takes the arrival of a physicians from the United States to get people to stop prolonging a much needed operation.
“That makes locals more courageous to undergo an operation that otherwise they wouldn’t have gone through,” Keushkerian said. “It makes them more confident.”
In addition to the 2.5 tons of medical supplies donated by the visiting team, Glendale Adventist donated a much needed working ambulance. Armenia Fund also donated one to a community whose only ambulance often broke down and was long past its life span.
After the mission was completed, the group was received by Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, who thanked the professionals for volunteering.
Kotikian said if he gets the chance, he will definitely go back for a similar mission in his motherland.
“It’s our country,” he said. “You have to give back so we can help them grow and become a better country in all aspects.”
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Arin Mikailian, arin.mikailian@latimes.com
Twitter: @ArinMikailian
