The Traveling Doctors of Armenia Healthcare organization was founded after the 44-day war and started its activity from Artsakh and mainly for the people of Artsakh. Hanganak was informed about the organization by an AWWA member, Nancy Barsamian, responsible for clinical part of the Elderly Project. Having personally met the founder-director of the organization Armine Barkhudaryan at the awards ceremony of the Aurora Foundation in Venice, Nancy Barsamian immediately thought about cooperation with Hanganak. And it didn’t take long. When one of the beneficiaries of Hanganаk needed a blood transfusion, and there was no suitable blood in Artsakh, Nancy turned to Armine for help. It just took a few hours and the blood was delivered to Artsakh. We can say with confidence that it saved the beneficiary’s life. Thus, the friendship between the two organizations was marked.
A friendship is not a friendship if it does not have a continuation. Now it’s high time to get personally acquainted with the team that has become heroes for Hanganak. Nancy informed that the team is going to visit Artsakh to fulfill their mission in four villages of Shushi region. Thus was born the idea to visit Hanganak for medical consultation and US examination of the patients. The doctors decided to extend their visit and dedicate a day to the beneficiaries of Hanganak.
On the morning of November 19th, the beneficiaries of Hanganak, together with the serving nurses, had already gathered in the office. Armine Barkhudaryan was informed in advance that many of the beneficiaries need an ophthalmologist’s consultation, so, in addition to a cardiologist, an obstetrician-gynecologist and a sonographer, she also invited an ophthalmologist. The staff of Hanganak was worried about whether the office would have appropriate conditions for medical examination and consultation, and how happy they were that the specialists who were ready to work in any field conditions made the space perfect for their work. When the team arrived at the office, they immediately got to work. They were equipped with modern mobile equipment. The Traveling Doctors of Armenian team surprised the staff of Hanganak with their organized work. 15 beneficiaries were invited for a US examination and 20 beneficiaries for an ophthalmological consultation. Realizing that highly qualified doctors were invited, the beneficiaries appointed with an ophthalmologist decided to take the opportunity to be examined by the US specialist and vice versa. At the end of the day, it was obvious that the ophthalmologist served 29 elderly people, and the sonographer – 28 people. They also performed electrocardiography, intraocular pressure measurement, determination of vision, fundus examination, etc.
At the end of the day, saying goodbye to the guests, the staff of Hanganak NGO expressed hope that each time visiting Artsakh, the team of Traveling Doctors of Armenia would visit the beneficiaries of Hanganak as well.
This is the case when the right people meet in the right place at the right time. Many thanks to Armine Barkhudaryan, Armen Mkrtchyan and Hovhannes Grigoryan for their professionalism and caring attitude.
See you soon.
See also Artsakh TV News report (in Armenian)