Celebrating 15 Years of Service to Our Armenian Community
The Armenian American Health Professionals Organization (AAHPO) just celebrated an exciting and fulfilling 15 years of service to our Armenian community. We remain dedicated to the mission of our founding members: to improve healthcare awareness, increase disease prevention and early detection, and provide medical support and education to Armenians in the tri-state area and in Armenia. At the end of 2009, AAHPO is in a strong position to continue making significant contributions to our brethren.
AAHPO's mission has attracted a growing membership from all healthcare professions, as well as volunteers, who have brought new ideas and vitality to our organization. AAHPO members, led by a hardworking, dedicated, selfless Board of Directors, collaborated in new and exciting ways to help our community.
In 2009, AAHPO implemented new projects, expanded existing programs and our donor base, and more than doubled our endowment. We increased our profile in our community that now recognizes AAHPO as an important resource for medical information and assistance. We can measure our success by the number of people we have provided with medical information and services. In addition, we have created professional opportunities and strengthened professional relationships for our members.
AAHPO's underlying themes this year were collaboration and a greater use of technology. These themes were best exemplified by our tele-medicine collaboration with Armenian Fund, USA (Hye Bridge). During the Tenth Armenian Medical World Congress (AMWC09) hosted by AAHPO in New York City, AAHPO conducted three, live broadcasts of challenging medical cases from Armenia to New York. In addition, each plenary session was broadcast live to healthcare providers in both Yerevan and Stepanagert. To help expand this program AAHPO joined the American Telemedicine Association, www.americantelemed.org/ATA2010.
We began 2009 by formalizing an affiliation agreement with the North Hudson Community Action Corporation (NHCA). NHCA is a non-profit organization dedicated to delivering healthcare to the underserved through nine health centers. These centers are located in three northern New Jersey counties with a significant Armenian population. This program allows AAHPO to further realize its mission of helping to provide medical services to the uninsured and encourage our brethren to seek appropriate, timely care. We are grateful to have our first referral to this program, which provides free primary medical and dental care and medication to adults and children.
Ongoing community activities vital to our mission included appearances on the Armenian Radio Hour; the Armenian TV Station Ardzagang; articles in The Armenian Reporter; an expansion of our web site www.aahpo.org, and counseling and referral services. The AAHPO Board of Directors is now entertaining a proposal to present timely and regularly-scheduled medical information on Ardzagang.
AAHPO also implemented AAHPO Alerts, monthly e-mails sent to a growing list of subscribers concerning important medical information. Topics have included the flu vaccine, swine flu, diabetes, and the medical implications of falls. All AAHPO Alerts and Ardzagang TV clips will be available for viewing on our web site, www.aahpo.org.
This AAHPO website has become a growing resource and repository of medical information for our community. Indeed, this site has enjoyed a record number of "hits" since its inception in 2008. We continue to look for opportunities to expand the use of this website to assist both the public and professionals in the communities we serve.
Last November, to coincide with Diabetes Awareness Month, we held our second annual diabetes community workshop at the Hovnanian School in New Milford, New Jersey. The three-hour program included ten specialists and was funded by grants from Sanofi-aventis and Novo Nordisk A/S. In conjunction with Ardzagang, the grants enabled AAHPO to develop a TV program on diabetes awareness that reached a television audience of over 200,000 people. The TV program will soon be available online on our website.
AAHPO also formalized its relationship with Quantia MD. With over fifty thousand subscribers, this organization is the largest Internet provider of continuing medical education. Quantia MD prepared Internet productions of the Thursday and Friday plenary session talks from the Tenth Armenian Medical World Congress (AMWC09). Armenian healthcare providers worldwide can soon view these productions on line, thereby ensuring that AAHPO fulfills its global education mission. We hope to expand this relationship in 2010 by developing educational programs through a grant process.
Throughout 2009, AAHPO was dedicated to fostering professional relationships among our membership. Accordingly, membership meetings were held in New York and New Jersey. More meetings are planned for 2010.
In addition to professional meetings and community workshops, AAHPO held a charity event in conjunction with the Armenian Eye Care Project at the New York Stock Exchange. This event afforded us the opportunity to raise our profile and to ring a symbolic bell that echoed throughout Armenian communities nearby and in our homeland far away - confirming for our brothers and sisters that we stand ready to help provide their basic human right to good health.
Through a collaboration with our sister organization, The Armenian American Medical Society of Southern California, AAHPO continues its interest in the Voskevan Clinic Project. This primary-medicine clinic, located in the strategic village of Voskevan, is near the contentious border of Azerbajian. A seven-room clinic will replace the decaying kindergarten that currently is used to provide medical services to about 4,000 people from Voskevan and the surrounding area.
Three years ago, The Armenian Medical International Congress honored AAHPO by selecting us to host the Tenth Armenian Medical World Congress (AMWC09). It was held in New York City, July 1-4 in 2009. All AAHPO volunteers and board members deserve special recognition for their dedication and hard work that ensured the success of this event. During the AMWC09 we heard from world-renowned physicians, academicians, and health ministers. We listened to scientific presentations on the latest medical advances. We made new friends and reconnected with old ones. But perhaps our most important achievement was that we reinforced the charge that the Armenian Medical World Congress has espoused for over 36 years. We uncovered new and more effective ways to partner with our colleagues in Armenia. Through this partnership, we are helping to deliver 21st Century healthcare to the country that is the mother and father of us all.
In short, 2009 was a very strong year for AAHPO. We are growing, our national recognition and community support are at an all-time high, and we continue to leverage the talents of our members, volunteers, board members, and staff to bring new and broader healthcare services to the global Armenian community.
Now we begin a new year. Our plan is that 2010 will bring new opportunities to deliver more medical services, support, and education to those who need it most. We can always do more. We must do more!
In 2010, I am confident that AAHPO will again play a crucial role in the lives of millions of our brethren throughout the world. They are counting on us. With your continuing hard work and selfless contributions, we will not let them down. AAHPO will answer their call.
Sincerely,
Lawrence V. Najarian, MD
President, AAHPO
