Dr. Fattal's free clinic logs 40,000 patient visits in 12 years

by Florence Avakian

Published: Thursday September 10, 2009

Dr. Garabed Fattal.

Binghamton, N.Y. - Long before the present round of efforts to provide for universal healtcare in the United States, there was a compassionate and dedicated individual who did something creative and constructive to help the uninsured.

It was in 1997 that Dr. Garabed Fattal established a free clinic, subsequently named after him, in Binghamton, N.Y. In the last 12-plus years, 400 to 500 volunteer physicians, nurses, pharmacists, lab technicians, and office personnel have devoted their free time every Monday and Thursday evening from 5 P.M. to as long as it takes, to serve indigent people and those without health insurance. At present, the weekly workload includes 100 to 120 patients, and climbing. There is also a Wednesday evening dental program serving the clinic patients.

"Since the time when we started this system in 1997, we have not even once interrupted our services because of lack of personnel," Dr. Fattal related proudly, during an interview with this writer at the recent Armenian Medical World Congress held in New York's Hilton Hotel over the July 4th week.

The Dr. Garabed A. Fattal Community Free Clinic has processed over 40,000 patient visits. Located in Broome County, with a population of 250,000, the clinic also serves people from surrounding counties, and neighboring upstate Pennsylvania. "We don't discriminate," he said.

Dr. Fattal was 67 years old when he retired from a large consolidated hospital facility where he was the chairperson of a centralized and highly sophisticated Department of Pathology. He is also a clinical professor at the Upstate Medical University, where he has been a 30-year member of the admissions committee. It was when he retired that he decided something must be done for those without health insurance in the Binghamton area.

Stand up and be counted

What motivated him? "Many people are unable to obtain and pay for healthcare. It was unthinkable for me that this most advanced and sophisticated society can't take care of its own people. In America today, there are almost 50 million people with no health insurance, and another 20 to 25 million with inadequate coverage." He decided that "those of us who have been in the healthcare professions should stand up and be counted."

It took two years to persuade other retired doctors to open a clinic. It was not easy. He had to find a locale to practice, as well as to persuade the local hospitals to treat the patients for free. "It was a very long and complex job. We finally ended up with a system in the County Health Department pro bono with examination rooms. When the day workers leave, we come in after hours," he explained.

And then there was the all-important issue of money. "We had to prod the county." Half a million dollars were needed per year – all through donations. New York State, the county, local charities all contributed, and the rest came from many generous individual donors. Dr. Fattal has been one of the major donors.

Care, aftercare, and medicines were given to the patients without charge. In addition, when a patient was in need of an operation, a sophisticated hospital procedure, or further research on a case, the hospital did it for free. "This was an opportunity to tell a hospital CEO to help us," he related.

Still on the faculty of the medical school, Dr. Fattal is aware that other people will have to be groomed to carry on this crucial endeavor, and he's hard at work doing so. "I'm not a doctor who retires, goes to Florida and plays golf. And, I have no interest in healthcare politics," he said, pointing out that the clinic was named after him only after the continued insistence of his colleagues.

A 500-year community

Born in Aleppo, Syria, in 1927, Dr. Fattal comes from an Armenian family with deep roots in Aleppo for more than 500 years. He explained that there has been an Armenian community in Aleppo during these five centuries, many Armenians emigrating from Cilicia over the years. "There is a 500-year old Armenian church in Aleppo named, "Karasoon Mangantz Yegeghetzi" dedicated to 40 Armenian martyred children. It is a beautiful old church, big like a cathedral," related Dr. Fattal.

Following the Armenian Genocide, his father Asdvadzadour chaired a committee of the Salvation Army, which found homes and jobs for the Genocide survivors who settled in Aleppo. "The local Muslim community welcomed the huge influx of Armenian survivors. The Armenians felt safe there."

The Fattal family going back centuries had been in the rug-making business (Fattal being the Arabic word for weaver). His father, who had studied law in Istanbul in the early years of the 20th century, returned to Aleppo when the Genocide started. Following World War I, when Syria and Lebanon became French colonies, his father became a judge, rising to the highest court in the country.

His mother Mariam was born in Aintab. Her grandfather's brother was priest of the Aleppo Armenian church, and while still very young, his mother was sent to Aleppo. Young Garabed was one of six children of Asdvadzadour and Mariam Fattal, all of whom became professionals in different fields.

Studying at the St. Joseph University Medical School in Beirut, Garabed Fattal graduated in 1953, and emigrated to the United States in 1954. Specializing in pathology, he went to Manitoba, Canada, in 1955, and for the next 10 years was on the faculty of the University of Manitoba Medical School and Hospital. At a friend's urging, he came to Binghamton, where there was a great need for an experienced pathologist.

At Binghamton General Hospital, where he worked for the next 25 years, he became director of laboratories. When Wilson Memorial, Binghamton General, and Ideal Hospitals consolidated, he became chairperson of the Department of Pathology and director of clinical laboratories (with 250 professionals), retiring from active practice in November 1994.