The medical mission team from Los Angeles in front of the Noyemberyan Hospital.
LOS ANGELES, YEREVAN—Armenia Fund and Adventist Health Glendale successfully completed their third joint medical mission to Armenia. With more than 50 volunteer medical professionals from Los Angeles, the week-long mission to the Noyemberyan Hospital in Armenia’s northeastern Tavush Region, near the border with Georgia and Azerbaijan, was unprecedented in its scale and scope.
Prior to the start of the mission, an advance team of specialists was sent to the Noyemberyan Hospital to help prepare and optimize its medical infrastructure, ahead of the entire medical team’s arrival. The Noyemberyan Hospital staff assisted the advance team in unpacking and organizing close to four tons of medical and surgical supplies, pharmaceuticals, and equipment for the hospital.
General surgeon Dr. Simon Keushkerian (far right) and general surgery resident Dr. Arshak Shahverdyan review a patient’s file during a surgical consult.
On Saturday, September 16, the entire medical team arrived at the Noyemberyan Hospital, and quickly joined the advance team in putting the final touches to preparations leading to the kickoff of the mission. By the end of Sunday, September 17, the first full day of the mission, the medical team had already operated on 12 patients, back to back — a record number of procedures performed in a single day at a rural hospital in Armenia.
The medical-mission team was joined by six surgery residents in their final year of residency from Yerevan — three general-surgery and three anesthesiology residents. Throughout the mission, the residents assisted, observed, and learned from the AHGL surgery team. For them, it was a truly unique opportunity to work with a highly skilled and experienced team of medical professionals.
Internal medicine Dr. Tsovinar Tekkelian listens to a patient’s lungs who had traveled from a nearby village.
“Though I couldn’t participate in the Armenia mission trip this year, I’m extremely proud of our team’s results,â€
