On June 29, the AWWA Board member Margaret Kiladjian and the president of Hanganak NGO Gohar Hovhannisyan met with Hambardzum Simonyan, the head of the FAR health programs. Months ago, on the initiative of Hambardzum Simonyan and Gohar Hovhannisyan, highly effective trainings were organized for the medical staff of Hanganak NGO. The courses were conducted by the specialists of the Association of Healthcare and Assistance to Older People. That marked the beginning of the cooperation between Hanganak NGO and FAR. FAR covered all costs associated with the training. According to the verbal agreement between Hanganak NGO and the Association of Healthcare and Assistance to Older People, the courses should be continuous and the next stage is planned for the fall. The mission of the FAR remains unchanged: to support all effective initiatives to achieve the improvement of the quality of the medical care.
Hambardzum Simonyan presented the multifaceted programs implemented by the FAR, paying particular attention to health and social programs.
Margaret Kiladjian, in her turn, spoke about the history of AWWA that spanned for more than 100 years and current tasks. Speaking about the challenges of the times, she outlined the financial difficulties that the AWWA-run Armenian Care and Rehabilitation Center was facing because of Covid restrictions. However, they are temporary in nature and will hopefully pass soon. In this regard, the support of FAR in some areas of the activities of Hanganak NGO, in particular assisting in the heating compensation to the beneficiaries in the winter months, would considerably lighten the financial burden of AWWA.
The meeting took place in a very warm atmosphere. Hambardzum Simonyan mentioned that they have been friends with Gohar Hovhannisyan for many years and they have come a long way together for the development of Artsakh’s healthcare system. He assured that the officials of the FAR would definitely be informed about the problem presented by AWWA, and the possibilities of cooperation would be discussed in the near future, in the middle of July, at the Hanganak office in Stepanakert.