AMIC’s NEWSLETTER, MONTREAL, CANADA
AMIC’s Info-Flash
2340 Chemin Lucerne, # 30
Ville Mont-Royal, Quebec
H3R 2J8,Canada
Tel : (514) 739 8950
Fax : (514) 738 2622
Web:
E-mail: amic@cam.org
November, 2004
1.Article 1 : ” The latest news from the 9th World Congress organizers”
2. Article 2: “Armenia’s health minister visit to Canada”
3.Article 3: “The Armenian American Health Professionals Organization’s
tenth Annual Gala Celebration”
4. Article 4 : “Report from a recent trip to Armenia/Karabagh”
5. Article 5 : “The Achievements Of Chronobiology And Chronomedicine (2002).
A publication by Professor Levon Aslanyan”
6. Article 6: ” Information on health-care reforms in Armenia?”
7. Article 7: “What is AMIC?”
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1. The latest news from the 9th World Congress organizers
“The Flyers are finally flying,”wrote Dr. Jerry Manoukian to AMIC in an
e-mail message sent on September 6. Every Armenian health professional
listed on AMIC’s main database (4600 names) must have received his or her
flyer.
Dr. Jerry Manoukian, president of the 9th Armenian Medical World Congress
organizing committee, also pointed out a problem that AMIC’s Executive
members and administrative director are well aware: the 4600 addresses need
constant updating, especially for those located in the United States of
America. The Info-Flash takes this opportunity to launch an urgent appeal:
please take less than a minute of your time to send to AMIC office
(amic@cam.org) your latest e-mail and mailing addresses if and when you
change them; please pass the word to your colleagues who are not yet
registered on AMIC’s online and main databases.
Individuals who have not yet received their flyers, can also go to the
Congress’s website (listed above) and look for the latest news.
Any Armenian medical association not officially member of the AMIC’s
network, can contact AMIC office (by e-mail or by phone (514) 739 8950), and
send their members’ list and addresses and we’ll do our best to send them
quickly all the necessary information and documentation. The latest
association to have done so is the “Armenian American Pharmacists
Association of Massachusetts” that we officially welcome here.
Please pay attention to the following deadlines:
-Deadline for submissions of abstracts: January 31, 2005
-Deadline for especial registration fees: April 1, 2005
-Deadline for especial hotel rates: June 2005.
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2. Armenia’s health minister visit to Canada.
His Excellency, the Minister of Health of Armenia, Dr. Norayr Davidian was
in Canada from October 21 to October 31. He was in Montreal during the
weekend of October 23-24, and then went to Ottawa and Toronto.
He had meetings with AMIC’s and AMAQ’s Executive members on October 23 and
24. Current health problems in Armenia and the development of future areas
of collaboration were discussed. During the October 24 meeting, the minister
met also Dr. Odino Riendeau, a dentist from Quebec, member of the “Dentists
Without Borders” organization; encouraged by Dr. Lena Terjanian, Dr.
Riendeau visited Armenia last summer, and now intends to develop a DWB
program in Armenia.
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3. “The Armenian American Health Professionals Organization’ s” tenth Annual
Gala Celebration.
On October 30, 2004, the AAHPO held its Annual Gala dinner, honoring the
cardiologist Dr. Haroutune Mekhjian and the philanthropist Mr. Kevork
Hovnanian, and celebrating the 10th anniversary of its foundation. (Please
read below the letter sent by the organizers).
A delegation from AMIC’s Executive, Drs. Jean Aralelian and Zareh Ouzounian,
inaugurating a decision taken by the Executive, to try to attend as many the
business meetings of its member associations in the USA as possible,
attended both the Gala dinner and the brunch on Sunday morning, October 31,
during which, a presentation was made about AMIC, outlining its history, its
objectives, its membership, and the coming Journal to be launched in 2005.
Dr. Ted Chaglassian, AAHPO’s Board President, and Mr. Khoren Nalbandian,
Board Vice President, gave the following information about the event in
their accompanying letter:
“The Armenian American Health Professional Organization is celebrating its
10th anniversary. As you are aware we are having a banquet to honor two
distinguished Armenian Americans – Mr. Kevork Hovnanian for his unrelenting
support of medical and humanitarian needs both in the United States and
Armenia, and Dr. Haroutune Mekhjian for lifelong excellence in the practice
of medicine and surgery and his pioneering contributions to cardiac surgery.
Since the inception of our organization in 1994, we have held a number of
health fairs, lectures, seminars and panel discussions. We have honored
several outstanding Armenians for their involvement in the medical and
humanitarian fields. We have also extended our support and participated in
the Armenian Medical congress.
Our plans for the immediate future include the participation and hosting of
the next World Armenian Medical International Congress. This occasion will
welcome skilled health professionals from all over the world to get together
and network.
Last but not least, we would like to establish a small Health Care Center
that will serve as a foundation for a future Armenian Medical Center.
To accomplish these projects your financial support and generosity is kindly
requested and always appreciated.”
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY AAHPO !
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4. Report from a recent trip to Armenia/Karabagh
Drs. Zareh Ouzounian and Avedis Bogosyan, from Toronto and members of AMIC’s
Executive, as well as other colleagues from the USA, made a trip to Armenia
and Karabagh from September 29 to October 16. We reproduce interesting
excerpts from the report sent by Dr. Ouzounian.
1- “The Women’s Health Clinic (funded by ACMAO) was officially opened on
October 9 in Stepanakert. The President of the Republic of Nagorno-Karabagh,
the First Lady (also Honorary Chairperson of our clinics), the Speaker of
the House, and many Ministers, officials, were present. The TV covered the
event. I need to mention here that since we came back, we are receiving
reports on the success of the clinic, which is seeing from 15 to 20 patients
a day already!
2- Because the clinics are growing in number, we had to register them under
one name for official registration, staff, etc.. After giving it long
thoughts, we decided to create a new umbrella NGO (Non governmental
Organization) to be also able to be tax-exempt. Because there are many
organizations and individuals involved in these clinics (Montreal, Toronto,
France, Lebanon, Boston..), we decided to call the new NGO “Hand in Hand”
(in Armenian” tzerk tzerki”). We are now officially registered in Karabagh
and hopefully we shall register the same in Armenia soon. We wrote the whole
constitution and bylaws and registered officially the whole thing in the
record time of two days!
3- The Martuni clinic’s construction is in full gear. It is coming very
nicely. We expect the construction to be completed sometime in mid-November.
4- The Martakert clinic’s construction raises some small concerns that we
are in the process of correcting at the present time. But overall it is
going well too.
5- Two meetings were held with the dentist for the mobile clinic, Dr. Vahag
Ghazarian. Some concerns about the establishment of the route for the mobile
must be resolved, such as logistics, where to sleep, which villages to
visit, how to coordinate, proximity and reachability of certain villages
etc,. Dr. Ghazarian is working on developing a realistic and feasible plan.
6- In May (5 and 6), 2005, a Conference will be organized on Preventive
Dentistry in Stepanakert. This conference will address not only dentists,
but also medical physicians, health administrators, school principals,
school nurses etc., in order to explain overall how preventive dentistry is
the way to go in terms of Public Health in the whole system. The second day
of the conference we will teach all the dentists how to actually perform the
hygiene and recall visits for all the children, establish protocols, prepare
Handouts..We already have the acceptance of five speakers from the
Diaspora as well as a hygienist from Los Angeles for the workshops.
7- Two meetings were held with the Armenian Dental Association, trying to
solve past differences and resume our cooperation in the future. The next
International Dental Congress will be held in Yerevan next October.
A.I.D.A.’s (Armenian International Dental Association) participation to the
Congress will be decided during its meeting of November 11-15 in Nassau.
8- We had two visits to the NIH (National Institute of Health). They now
have a clinic and are ready to conduct Continuing Education programs
including Hands-On courses. We will conduct such courses to benefit the
young generation of dentists who are engaged in the NIH in an 18 month GPR
(General Practice Residency) program. Speakers who would be able and willing
to provide such courses in this new setting, are greatly welcome
9- We visited the Hadrout and Shushi clinics. Small repairs have been
already completed in Hadrout, and the patient records are in very good shape
It was a satisfying trip. We have the feeling that we are getting more
organized and the scope of our projects is becoming really significant. Of
course, a fine-tuning will have to be made as we go along. We thank all the
participants for their continuous support to these nation-building projects.
Please do not hesitate to offer ideas and suggestions. We can use all the
help we can get.
Dr. Zareh Ouzounian.
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5. ” The Achievements Of Chronobiology And Chronomedicine” (2002). A
publication by Professor Nubar Levon Aslanyan.
During its meeting of August 28, AMIC’s Executive received Professor Nubar
Aslanyan, the director of the Biochemistry Laboratory at the Institute of
Cardiology of Armenia, and the Founding President of the Armenian Society
for Chronobiology, who was visiting Montreal. His Laboratory’s specialty is
the study of the “biological rhythms”; the world leader specialist in that
domain is Professor Franz Halberg, (Minnesota University), who first
contacted AMIC a few months ago (see the Info-Flash of June 2004), and
introduced us to the work and needs of Professor Aslanyan’s Laboratory.
Dr. Aslanyan offered AMIC one of its latest publication: “The Achievements
Of Chronobiology And Chronomedicine”, (2002, 285 pages) written in English
and Russian, and published in Yerevan.
In their foreword to the book, Professors Halberg and Cornelissen write that
N. Aslanyan “placed his country on the map of chronomics- the mapping of
time structures and chronomes.. He has joined the “BIOCOS” project, bringing
with him his rich expertise in chronomics, worldwide monitoring (notably of
blood pressure and heart rate) and physical environmental variables.. As we
have learned in the past half-century, what was interpreted as a set of
conditioned Pavlovian reflexes is in fact a partly genetically anchored
circadian system. With Nubar in the lead, chronomics provide us with the
possibility of counteracting the ills of the second childhood by developing
coutermeasures in the womb and at birth..” In the book, Dr. Aslanyan
develops a scientific “who’s who”, giving by continents and countries the
names of the scientists (70) engaged in chronomics. Past meetings held
around the world are listed and explained etc.
For those who, among our readers would like to help Dr. Aslanyan’s
Laboratory needs, please contact AMIC’s office (amic@cam.org, phone (514)
739 8950). With very modest sums, precious equipment with special discount
prices could be purchased.
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6. Information on health-care reforms in Armenia
– The health care sector’s budget will rise dramatically in the coming
years: the 2004 year budget allocation was 25 billion drams; in 2005 it will
rise to 31.7 billion drams, in 2006 to 36.8 billion drams, and in 2007 to
50.1 billion drams, doubling the amount of money in three years.
– In 2003, the 34 health care centers of Yerevan were restructured into 10
units.
– The World Bank earmarked a loan of $ US 19.5 million; 7.5 million will be
used to train 950 family physicians, and create 20 polyclinics in the rural
regions of the country. The balance will serve to update medical equipment.
– The government of Armenia, with the material help ($ US 2.2 million) of
the German government initiated a “national campaign to eradicate
Tuberculosis” in Armenia.
– In 2004 an “open door days” policy was initiated with the participation of
the best specialists available: the March 29 to April 7 period was dedicated
to men’s health. From April 12 to April 17, the experience was extended
geographically to all the Marzes: 26 000 patients were examined. From May 12
to May 15, it was the turn of the (female) teachers of primary classes etc.
– In 2004, the minister of health toured regularly the different regions of
the country, not only to gather first-hand information about the needs of
the population, but also to deliver directly to them information about the
free health care services to which they are entitled..
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7. What is AMIC?
The Armenian Medical International Committee was created fourteen years ago.
It is an umbrella organization that unites Armenian medical associations
throughout the Diaspora, creating thus a large network through which
information and data are exchanged.
AMIC organizes Armenian Medical World Congresses. So far eight have been
held in different cities of the Diaspora. In 2003, “The First International
Medical Congress of Armenia”, organized by Armenia, was held in Yerevan from
July 1 to July 3.
The 9th AMIC Congress will be held in 2005 (from June 29 to July 3), in San
Francisco (USA). You can have the latest news by visiting the website
AMIC publishes since 1998 an online newsletter and sends it freely to all
Armenian Health Care professionals. If you are a health care professional
and are interested in receiving Info-Flash, please send us your e-mail
address (amic@cam.org). To all those who already receive the Info, please do
not forget to send us your new e-mail address when you change it.
For further information visit our website:
A useful information to remember: you can send freely from wherever you are
located, medical equipment/medicine through the services of the United
Armenian Fund; President Mr. Harout Sassounian (sassoun@pacbell.net)