The California
Courier Online, May 25, 2023
1- Questionable
Writers Spread
Anti-Armenia
Propaganda
By Harut
Sassounian
Publisher,
The California
Courier
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
2- Saving
Sasoun Kapamajian: Two Brothers
Whose Bond
in Blood Is A Modern Miracle
3- AAF Delivers
Another $6.3 Million
Of
Medicines to Armenia
and Artsakh
4- Sarian's
American Healthcare Systems
to Purchase
Vista Medical Center East
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1- Questionable
Writers Spread
Anti-Armenia
Propaganda
By Harut
Sassounian
Publisher,
The California
Courier
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
Armenians firmly condemn and reject individuals with
questionable motives who repeatedly write articles full of hatred and lies
about Armenia
in the international press. The hostile content of these articles leads one to
believe that they are not honest expressions of opinion, but reflect the
writers’ sinister aims. If you go on the armeniapedia.org website and look
under “Armenian Hall of Shame,” you will find the names of a couple of hundred
such anti-Armenian writers.
For example, James Wilson wrote an article last week titled
“Why is France trying to
play into Russia’s
hands?” which was posted on the ‘EU Reporter’ website.
Wilson claimed that “France is starting to supply weapons to Armenia.
Initially, it involves the delivery of 50 armored vehicles, but in the future,
deliveries of French Mistral surface-to-air missile systems are also possible.”
This is pure speculation. Wilson quoted an
unknown Artsakh Armenian who reportedly spoke on Armenian TV about French
weapons coming to Armenia.
Wilson revealed his real
intent in writing this article by stating that Ukrainian and Moldovan media
have reported: “Western military equipment supplied to Yerevan could be used by Russians to counter
the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ counteroffensive.” This is utter nonsense. Wilson wrote that Armenia’s
Defense Minister Suren Papikyan discussed French-Armenian military cooperation
during his visit to Paris
in September 2022. Even if this is true, nine months later, not a single French
bullet has been sent to Armenia!
Wilson then accused Armenia of “serving as a trans-shipment hub for
Iranian weapons sent to Moscow.”
This is fake news. Moscow does not need to use Armenia for
such trans-shipments. Wilson then falsely
claimed that Armenia used
Iranian drones during its clashes with Azerbaijan. Without providing a
shred of evidence, he alleged that French weapons shipped to Armenia can be transferred to Iran.
Incredibly, Wilson concluded that French weapons
shipments to Armenia “put France on a collision course with Israel,” because of its military alliance with Azerbaijan.
Who is James Wilson and why is he writing such terrible
things about Armenia?
He is a Brussels-based British man who worked as a political consultant for
mostly Eastern European clients, according to POLITICO. He spent almost two
decades in the Hong Kong government. He
founded MacMillan, a lobbying consultancy, first in Ukraine
and then in Brussels,
in mid-2000’s. He is the Publisher and Editor in Chief of EU Political Report
in Brussels and
co-founder of Brussels ThinkLab, a consultancy established in 2019.
Mark Scott wrote a lengthy three-part series of articles in
POLITICO, revealing the inner workings of consultants in Brussels,
under the title: “The web of connections behind Brussels lobbying: Despite a longstanding
transparency push, large swathes of the bubble remain opaque.”
Here is how the EU Reporter’s publisher, Colin Stevens,
presented his company on a YouTube video: “Our business model is to offer
political parties, businesses, NGOs, industry associations, financial
institutions and governments the opportunity to use EU Reporter to influence
the European political decision-making process by sponsoring coverage and the
placement of positive news stories and editorial comment related to them.”
POLITICO replied: “Welcome to the murky world of EU lobbying
dressed up as journalism. Stevens doesn’t appear to have a particular agenda,
or to work as a lobbyist. But his company has provided a number of companies
and governments with a space to publish paid-for content as straight news
articles without disclosing those connections.”
The EU Reporter’s website has posted dozens of anti-Armenia
and pro-Azerbaijan articles. POLITICO disclosed that the EU Reporter published
“a sponsored post by the Azerbaijani government…. Kazakhstan
and Azerbaijan
have both received extensive positive coverage on the site — raising questions
about editorial standards and whether paid-for content is correctly labeled.”
Here is how the pro-Azeri propaganda works: Following the
2020 Artsakh War, “Baku’s representative to the
United Nations sent a letter to the secretary-general alleging that Armenia had
relied on terrorists and foreign fighters during the months-long war. Among the
evidence he cited were articles published in EU Reporter. In one article,
written while the conflict was ongoing, the site accused Armenia of transporting Turkish fighters from Syria to train
the country’s militia. In another, it criticized Western media reports that
accused Azerbaijan, not Armenia, of
relying on foreign militants…. Three Azerbaijani experts told POLITICO that
allegations of foreign fighters siding with Armenia
during the conflict did not match the reality on the ground, and that EU
Reporter’s coverage of the conflict skewed significantly toward Baku’s perspective….
POLITICO was not able to confirm whether Azerbaijan had paid for the
favorable coverage in EU Reporter. Stevens said that his site retains full
independence, that it had been even-handed in its treatment of Azerbaijan and
that all articles were labeled with an author’s name…. Still, the outlet and Baku have ties that date
back almost a decade,” POLITICO wrote.
The EU Reporter usually adds a sentence to its articles,
stating: “EU Reporter publishes articles from a variety of outside sources
which express a wide range of viewpoints. The positions taken in these articles
are not necessarily those of EU Reporter.” This is nothing but a fig leaf to
hide behind publishing articles of questionable origin.
I wrote to the Publisher of EU Reporter asking if he had
paid James Wilson to write his ‘article.’ If yes, how much did he pay him? Not
surprisingly, I did not receive an answer.
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2- Saving Sasoun Kapamajian: Two
Brothers
Whose Bond
in Blood Is A Modern Miracle
Pregnant with her second son, Sasoun, in 2017, Armené
Kapamajian looked excitedly toward the future. With the holidays coming up, she
imagined all the things moms like her would normally do. Her older son, Vaughn,
two years old at the time, would have a sibling to play with. There would be
winter walks, bundled up tightly, around their neighborhood in Los Angeles. She’d take her children,
accompanied by her husband, Dr. Michael Kapamajian, to see their extended
family over the holidays.
And when Sasoun was born, Armené and Michael were convinced
all that was in the cards.
But about a week later, they were given some life-changing
news: Sasoun was diagnosed with a genetic condition called Severe Combined
Immunodeficiency Syndrome (SCID), which makes it harder for a person’s immune
system to function properly. Even small infections, like ear infections, could
be fatal.
The doctors gently explained that Sasoun would need to be
isolated from the outside world until his medical team could find a suitable
donor and schedule a transplant to rebuild Sasoun’s immune system. So, that’s
exactly what they did.
Armené would be Sasoun’s sole caregiver at the hospital
while they waited for a transplant. Michael would still need to work, so while
the doctors determined that Michael and older brother Vaughn could not visit
the hospital, Armené had to dress head-to-toe in a gown and mask to protect
Sasoun. Armené would not be allowed to leave the room for fear of bringing back
an infection.
Soon, the reality of this “new normal” began to sink in for
Armené. She couldn’t take walks with her family to look at Christmas lights or
have friends and family over at the hospital to hold the new little one. She
couldn’t even physically touch Vaughn or Michael, or do the little things she
normally took for granted, like take Christmas pictures as a family.
With their yearly plans shattered, Armené felt lost. Things
weren’t supposed to happen this way, right?
For SCID, early intervention is critical. Many children
don’t ever make it to grade school. The most effective treatment is a bone
marrow transplant, where cells from a healthy donor are used to replace the
faulty cells and rebuild a functioning immune system. Sasoun’s doctors knew
they had to quickly find him a matched donor. It was then that Armené and
Michael had a lightbulb moment: after learning that Vaughn was a bone marrow
match, they remembered they had also preserved older brother Vaughn’s newborn
stem cells with CBR when he was born.
Similar to adult forms of stem cells found in bone marrow,
newborn stem cells found in cord blood can be used to rebuild healthy immune
systems. Because newborn stem cells are collected at birth, they are younger
and more flexible than bone marrow stem cells. This increases the odds of
matching and decreases the chances of certain complications. Plus, they are
immediately available if and when the family needs them.
Armené and Michael waited nervously while doctors tested
whether Vaughn’s stem cells would be compatible with Sasoun. As it turned out,
Sasoun was a perfect match for Vaughn’s cord blood.
Vaughn, then a 2-year-old pint-sized hero, was ready to help
his brother fight.
“Dad,” he said, looking up at his father, “I’m going to save
my brother.”
During the family’s stay at the hospital, CBR sent Vaughn’s
stem cells from their cryopreservation lab to Sasoun’s treating physician, and
Sasoun was given his transplant. Six weeks after receiving the transplant, the
doctors monitoring Sasoun’s progress said it was okay for Sasoun to return home
— as long as Sasoun, Vaughn and Armené remained quarantined.
Overjoyed, Armené returned home. Although the road wasn’t yet clear (she,
Sasoun, and Vaughn would remain quarantined for another twelve months), simply
being out of the hospital, with Sasoun’s immune system rebuilding — was a huge
relief. Before COVID-19, they could bring Sasoun outdoors, eat dinner at restaurants,
and see family. When COVID-19 struck, they were much better equipped to handle
isolation.
Today, Sasoun lives a much more normal life. Michael and
Armené, now almost 6 years later—as Sasoun is in pre-K and Vaughn is in 2nd
grade at Mesrobian Armenian School —still marvel at how Vaughn’s newborn stem
cells were the “spark plug to jump start Sasoun’s recovery.”
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3- AAF Delivers Another $6.3
Million
Of
Medicines to Armenia
and Artsakh
GLENDALE—In the first four
months of 2023, the Armenia Artsakh Fund (AAF) delivered to Armenia and
Artsakh another five shipments of medicines and medical supplies valued at $6.3
million of which $3.2 million was for Artsakh. All five shipments were donated
by AmeriCares, at the request of the AAF.
Even though for over five months, Azerbaijan
has imposed a near total blockade of the Lachin Corridor which links Artsakh to
Armenia,
the International Committee of the Red Cross was able to deliver the
urgently-needed medical shipments to Artsakh.
Here are some of the medicines sent on these five shipments:
Everolimus tablets, Telmisartan,
Ipratropium Bromide/Albuterol Sulfate, Clobetasol, Linagliptine, several cases
of Penicilamine, Piperacilin Tazobactam, Enoxparin Sodium and Memantine
capsules.
“We highly appreciate the life-saving medicines donated by
AmeriCares for Armenia
and Artsakh and the assistance of the International Committee of the Red Cross
to deliver them to the 120,000 Armenians blockaded in Artsakh,” said Harut
Sassounian, President of Armenia Artsakh Fund.
In the past 34 years, including the shipments under its
predecessor, the United Armenian Fund, the AAF delivered to Armenia and
Artsakh a grand total of $973 million worth of humanitarian aid, mostly
medicines, on board 158 airlifts and 2,557 sea containers.
For more information, call the AAF office: (818) 241-8900;
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4- Sarian's
American Healthcare Systems
to Purchase
Vista Medical Center East
By Steve Sadin
(Chicago
Tribune)—Vista Medical Center East in Waukegan,
along with its affiliated physician clinics and outpatient facilities, are in
the process of being sold to a 2-year-old health care company that specializes
in operating community hospitals.
Vista is under contract to
be sold by Tennessee-based parent company Quorum Health Corporation to Los
Angeles-area headquartered American Healthcare Systems by May 31 pending
regulatory approval from the Illinois Health Facilities & Service Review
Board.
Faisal Gill, American Healthcare’s chief legal officer, said
the company specializes in community hospitals like Vista.
It will be the company’s fourth acquisition of a health care company since it
was founded in 2021.
Nicole Edwards, a corporate communications spokesperson for
Quorum, was not specific about why the current 16-hospital chain was selling Waukegan’s lone hospital,
and the other facilities affiliated with it.
Waukegan Mayor Ann Taylor said in an email American
Healthcare officials reached out to her and is pleased with the company’s,
“expressed intention to preserve and grow hospital services and retain existing
staff.”
“AHS has shared with me its commitment to health care
excellence in the context of community hospitals, as well as its positive track
record of acquiring underperforming hospitals and increasing health care
services while preserving staff,” Taylor
said.
American Healthcare currently operates Randolph
Health Hospital
in Asheboro, North Carolina,
the South City
Hospital in St.
Louis and Gateway Regional Medical
Center in Granite
City on the Illinois side of the St. Louis metropolitan
area.
Gill said American Healthcare specializes in finding
underperforming hospitals with their attendant health care operations and
improves their performance. Mike Sarian, the company’s founder, chairman and
CEO, is an experienced health care executive.
“He has 30 years experience in the health care business,”
Gill said. “He decided to start his own company.”
Shortly after Sarian started American Healthcare, Gill said
it bought Randolph
Health Hospital
out of a bankruptcy and “turned it around.” It is now profitable and offering
better health care, Gill said.
Just under a year ago, Gill said American Healthcare
acquired South City. Though not in bankruptcy, it was
underperforming and is now operating on a stronger footing.
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