InternationalNew medical clinics, equipment in COAF villages go hand-and-hand with professional, public health training
Published: Saturday October 18, 2008
Annual physical check-ups are conducted in all cluster schools.
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Karakert, Armenia - In a simply furnished, freshly painted room at the Karakert Health Clinic, the nurses are falling all over themselves in excitement talking about the new medical and health programs they've established with the help of the Children of Armenia Fund (COAF).
More than 80 percent of children up to the age of six months are exclusively breastfed in Karakert, they say, based on the education program they've started with expecting mothers. Pap smear testing has been instituted not only in Karakert but in all six villages where COAF is working with medical professionals. The program revealed 145 cases of women with serious reproductive health problems, including cervical cancer, which is completely curable but only if caught early. And they do much more diagnostic and testing at the clinic, rather than referring patients to regional medical centers.
"What I also like," says one nurse, a 12-year veteran, "Is that now I'm no longer afraid to put a needle in someone's arm, either to draw blood or to set up an infusion."
What?
The other nurses nod in agreement. Though all have been nurses for years before COAF came to their village in 2003, none of them had received any practical training on this basic procedure.
It's hard to tell what the most important health concern in rural Armenia is - the falling-apart health care facilities, or the so-called "theory based" training, that leaves many medical professionals shockingly unprepared to work in their chosen field. That's why COAF both modernizes facilities and equipment while simultaneously offering intensive weekly, monthly and yearly training and mentoring programs designed to update provider skills in the six villages. The training isn't confined to medical professionals: a key component of COAF's health program is to train the villagers themselves to be more proactive about their own and their community's health.
"We put a trained family doctor from Yerevan on rotation in the six villages who does peer review with the local medical staff on a weekly basis," said Dr. Naira Gharakhanyan, who heads the COAF medical and social programs, and is herself is a practicing doctor and public health specialist. "We've been doing this since we started four years ago, and it is a very important part of the program. We need to give the local medical staff support and follow-up attention and advice, as well as the chance to get hands-on, on-the-job training."
The results have been dramatic, showing improvements both in access to health care services and in early detection and prevention of disease. Overall use of the COAF clinics has increased by 50 percent since the program started four years ago, with special attention paid to women and children: nearly 800 women have benefited from improved pre-natal and reproductive care, including pap smears and ultrasound testing, something unheard of previously in the six villages served by COAF. Over 2,600 children - more than half of the children in those six villages -- received preventive health check-ups through newly established school health programs. COAF together with other organizations such as IRD and UMCOR has also supported the free distribution of everything from medications to vitamins, serving thousands of villagers.
COAF has renovated two clinics in two villages (with plans to rebuild the large regional polyclinic located in Miasnikian). The program has also provided the clinics with updated equipment such as ECG machine, height and weight scales, oto-ophthalmoscopes, proper lab equipment and even X-ray machine needed to conduct the diagnostics to the COAF cluster villages and also surrounding nine other villages. Much of the equipment purchases were aided by co-funding from the Armenian Medical Fund USA.
That's not the only place where COAF has looked for co-sponsors. To provide more specialized care, COAF has partnered with various international organizations offering medical training/services ranging from eye care to dentistry. The Armenian Dental Society of California screened nearly 1,200 children and provided follow-up dental to over 200 cases each year, while more than 2,600 children received eye exams each year and follow up services through the Armenian Eye Care Project.
"I've never seen so many different, highly specialized professionals in one place," says Aida Davtyan, the head doctor for the Karakert polyclinic. "Let alone the fact that they were working with me, side by side. It's an incredible honor and learning experience."
An important element of COAF's health program is public health education. COAF has helped the medical staff organize trainings amongst hundreds of villagers, teachers and students, teaching about chronic disease management, reproductive and child health, first aid, hygiene and other basic health knowledge.
"Some of our children have become so vigilant about hygiene and protecting themselves from disease that I get phone calls from parents," jokes Lernagog School Principal Koryun Makaryan. "Now their kids want clean towels, separated from the other family members."
