* Expanding its focus from early detection of cancer in women, to high-quality, affordable health care for the entire family

Yerevan -- Yerevan's “Armenian American Wellness Center” (AAWC), the humanitarian project of the U.S.-based Armenian American Cultural Association (AACA), has been undergoing an extensive renovation which includes the expansion and seismic reinforcement of its facilities. The multi-million dollar refurbishment will transform the center's single-story clinic – specializing in women’s mammography, basic gynecology, pathology lab work and family medicine -- into a six-story, state-of-the-art primary health care facility that will serve men and children as well. The expansion has been facilitated by the government of rmenia,which in 2002 donated to the Wellness Center the remainder of the six-story building it partially occupied, in recognition of the center’s vital work in the area of women’s health care. The center has been able to achieve great advances in women's health care delivery in Armenia through its application of Western-style technology and expertise. In that same spirit, the newly expanded Wellness Center is expected to be at the forefront of building design and energy efficiency in the country. Using California-based technology and structural design, a Soviet-era building has been seismically reinforced against future earthquakes. And in a nod to environmental consciousness, the Wellness Center will be the first structure in the entire former Soviet Union to have its own roof-integrated power station, that converts sunlight and clean water into reusable energy, project organizers said. (See the sidebar story for details.)

* A major regional facility

In addition to its structural enhancements, the Wellness Center is undergoing an expansion that will transform it into a facility which provides technologically-advanced, comprehensive health care to the entire family. Furthermore, the center will provide its high-quality diagnosis and treatment services to citizens of Armenia as well as the entire Caucasus region. All the work is going forward thanks to a grant of close to a million dollars from USAID’s American Schools and Hospitals Abroad Program, and through the Armenian American Cultural Association's own fundraising effort, which has sought contributions from other organizations, family foundations, and individual Armenian-Americans. To date, six major donors have given close to two million dollars – and additional sponsorships (for exam and screening rooms, departments and entire floors) are available for prospective donors who wish to help the Wellness Center in its mission. (See below for contact information.) “We are excited about realizing this dream of creating a state-of-the-art primary health care facility in Armenia, to provide comprehensive, high-quality, affordable services to women, men, and children,” said Rita Balian, the president and CEO of AACA, and founder of the Wellness Center. “It's a natural extension of the center's ongoing mission to save, prolong, and improve the lives of women through early detection of cancer.”

* Ten years of life-saving work

The Wellness Center's American sponsor, the Armenian American Cultural Association, established the facility in April of 1997 to address the significantly high incidence of breast cancer in Armenia. (That disease remains the leading cause of cancer deaths among women in Armenia, followed by cervical cancer.) In 10 years of operation, the Wellness Center has screened over 87,000 women for breast and cervical cancer – conceivably saving over 3,100 lives through early cancer detection. To date, 48 percent of all patients have been screened free of charge. In 2003, the AACA opened a satellite clinic in the city of Gavar in the Lake Sevan region, where the rate of breast abnormalities is among the highest in the country. Annual health fairs have been organized there since 2005 to provide free services and education on healthy lifestyles to patients (men and women alike), drawing an average of 100 patients per day during the three-day fair. Additionally, since 1998, 128 “medical outreach missions” have provided free breast and cervical screenings to 9,000 patients in Armenia's remote villages and towns. A top priority has been to train the center’s medical professionals in Western healthcare standards and technology. Each of the center’s 33 staff members has been trained on site or in the U.S. through 44 medical exchanges organized by AACA over the past decade. Also, three million dollars-worth of American medical equipment and supplies were transported to Armenia thanks to United Armenian Fund. One critical component of the Wellness Center’s mission has been public education on the importance of preventive healthcare and early disease detection. The educational effort includes awareness campaigns, educational brochures, medical conferences, and media coverage -- as well as an “Annual Health Walk” held each October in observance of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. From just a few hundred participants at the first Walk in 1996, the 2006 Health Walk attracted a record 4,000 women, men, and children including Armenia's Minister of Health of Armenia, members of Parliament representatives of the U.S. Embassy and other diplomats, along with cancer survivors, medical college students, media, and the entire Wellness Center staff. “I am very proud that in our capital city we have a medical center that meets the highest international standards,” said Minister of Health Norayr Davidyan, “ which alleviates part of [the government’s] burden of early detection of breast and cervical cancer among Armenia's women.” “By securing the health of Armenia's mothers -- the pillars of the family -- we are ensuring the well-being of families throughout our nation,” said Wellness Center co-founder Hranush Hakobyan, a member of Armenia's Parliament. “I am inspired and extremely proud of the center’s accomplishments over the past 10 years.”

For more information about Wellness Center, visit the AACA's website www.aacainc.org, or e-mail info@aacainc.org. Send contributions payable to the Armenian American Cultural Association to 1300 Crystal Drive, Suite 1504, Arlington, VA, 22202.

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SIDEBAR

Not your average do-it-yourself rehab project

California earthquake-construction technology and an environmental consciousness are helping to make Yerevan's Wellness Center a state-of-the-art facility. Here's how:

* The old Soviet-era building’s pre-cast concrete panel floors and ceiling surfaces, unsafe during earthquakes, have been reinforced with additional poured concrete to convert flat panels into a solid monolithic structure.

* All the building’s support columns have been strengthened with Tyfo FibrwrapR – a Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) developed by the San Diego-based Fyfe Company -- that is more durable and compact than concrete; it will make for stronger columns, more usable space, and less weight on the floors, as it requires only and inch and a half of acrylic fiber to replace one foot of concrete. “Working with Fyfe Company has been a real pleasure,” said Wellness Center founder Rita Balian. “They immediately realized the importance of our humanitarian project in Armenia, and made every effort to ensure that our new Wellness Center would be housed in a safe, seismically- sound building. They flew their top technician from the U.S. to Armenia for an entire week to teach and work together with the builders to assure the proper application of the Tyfo Fibrwrap materials.”

* Architect and builder Vartkess Balian from metro Washington, and Hovsep Sarafian, a retired architect from Detroit, volunteered their time in collaborating with American and Armenian medical professionals to provide the initial building concept to Trinity Design, a Detroit-based architectural group with expertise in health care delivery structures.

*The building's sixth (top) floor was completely demolished and redesigned by Nazarian Engineering Company of Torrance, Calif., to feature a 14-foot-high domed, earthquake-proof reinforced steel structure with solar panels. To meet the center’s energy needs, the Yerevan-based SolarEn, LLC, an enterprise established by the Cafesjian Family Foundation, designed a technical solution to provide the Wellness Center with its own sustainable 120-kilowatt energy supply from a combined heat and power system and solar energy, fostering energy independence and providing reliable power in emergency conditions. In the words of Victor Afyan, the executive director and lead engineer of SolarEn: “While there are many grid-connected photovoltaic [PV] systems in Europe and the U.S., this is the first time in Armenia that a PV power station will be created and connected to a power grid. Using a “net metering” concept, the Wellness Center will transmit its excess energy to the grid; when it needs energy, it will receive the transmitted amount of energy for free, thus using the grid as a battery.” “Our project opens a new door to the energy-future of Armenia,” Afyan said.

END OF SIDEBAR