PRESS RELEASE
Cafesjian Family Foundation
15 South 5th Street, Suite 900
Minneapolis, MN 55402
USA contact:
Madlene Minassian
[email protected]
(818) 434-1725
Armenia contact:
Erik Grigorian
[email protected]
(+374) 99 00 25 30
Smile Project in Armenia provides free surgeries to youths with birth
defects
Initiative is a collaborative effort of five non-governmental
organizations and Ministry of Health
MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota, and YEREVAN – The Smile Project, a
private-public initiative that provides free reconstructive surgery to
Armenian children and young adults with certain birth defects, is
currently underway in Yerevan.
The medical procedures are being performed by a team of surgeons from
Smile Network International (SNI), a nonprofit organization that
provides reconstructive surgeries and related healthcare services to
impoverished children and young adults in developing countries.
Between October 4 and 10, the SNI surgical team will operate on over
50 patients from Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh suffering from
congenital cleft lip and cleft palate. The team will perform
additional surgeries in Spring 2009.
The Smile Project is a collaborative effort of the Cafesjian Family
Foundation’s Public Health Outreach Program, Arabkir Medical Center,
Fund for Armenian Relief, Hand in Hand Foundation (Nagorno-Karabakh),
the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Armenia, and Yerevan State
Medical University.
Patients with cleft lip or cleft palate have difficulty eating,
drinking, and speaking. As a result, they suffer from malnourishment,
stunted development, and lethargy. According to the Cafesjian
Foundation, such individuals are also shunned by society and often
subjected to discrimination or abuse, given the stigma attached to
their physical deformities.
`The month of October brings new hope to Armenia through these
life-changing reconstructive surgeries, as the children and young
adults undergoing those procedures will now get a smile, and with a
smile will come friends, opportunities, and a better life,’ said
Madlene Minassian, director of the Cafesjian Family Foundation’s
Public Health Outreach Program. `We can already see the impact of the
operations on many Armenian lives,’ Minassian continued. `It is an
honor to be on the ground here in Armenia and witness the contribution
of these organizations.’
The Smile Project
was initiated last year, when the Cafesjian Family Foundation and its
longtime partner, the Hope for the City Fund, requested that SNI
launch a mission in Armenia. In November 2007, Minassian hosted a
delegation from SNI in Yerevan and helped it assess local needs. By
May 2008, when the Cafesjian Family Foundation’s Public Health
Outreach Program began to lay the groundwork for the SNI mission, four
nonprofit organizations as well as the Ministry of Health came on
board. With their collaboration and support, the Smile Project was
officially launched.
The project is administered by the
Cafesjian Family Foundation’s Public Health Outreach Program, which
organizes PR campaigns and disseminates information for raising public
awareness of birth defects and project services, helps provide
accommodations and transportation for the SNI surgical team, assists
in identifying and registering patients for surgery, and oversees the
implementation of the project. The SNI team’s travel expenses are
underwritten by the Cafesjian Family Foundation.
Other components of the Smile Project are provided by the initiative’s
partners. The Arabkir Medial Center provides surgical suites and
personnel for patient prescreening and surgeries. It also delivers
pre- and post-operation care.
The Fund For Armenian Relief covers the transportation, food, and
accommodation costs of patients as well as a caretaker..
The Hand in Hand Foundation acts as project liaison in
Nagorno-Karabakh. It distributes information, raises public awareness,
identifies and prescreens patients, and coordinates their travel to
Armenia and participation in the project.
As the initiative’s education partner, the Yerevan State Medical
University recruits local professionals who acquire new skills and
knowledge by shadowing SNI team members during surgeries. The
university also organizes lectures by SNI surgeons, with the purpose
of contributing to local capacity-building with regard to cleft lip
and cleft palate treatment.
The Smile Project is endorsed by the Armenian Ministry of Health. `We
appreciate the ministry’s support, care, and gestures of goodwill,’
Minassian said, and applauded the ministry for granting complimentary
entry visas to the SNI surgical team. She added that the ministry has
published material about the Smile Project and disseminated it
throughout Armenia, in addition to contributing to the implementation
of the project by providing its lists of registered patients with
cleft lip and cleft palate..
The Cafesjian Family Foundation, Inc., was established in 1996 by
Gerard L. Cafesjian. The U.S.-based nonprofit organization supports a
variety of Armenian causes in Armenia, Nagorno-Karabakh, and the
U.S. A primary focus of the foundation are the security of independent
Armenia and the further development of a free, democratic society
through economic development and the strengthening of the U.S.-Armenia
relationship.
The foundation’s Public Health Outreach Program aims to help improve
healthcare in Armenia by providing medicines, medical supplies, and
equipment to public-health institutions and centers across Armenia and
Nagorno-Karabakh. The program also seeks to continue to provide free
surgical services through its partnership with the Hope for the City
Foundation and SNI.
The Fund for Armenian Relief provides short-term emergency relief and
implements long-term programs for the economic growth and social
development of Armenia. Among other projects, the fund operates daily
soup kitchens and summer camps, awards scholarships and scientific
grants, and builds irrigation systems. The fund’s programs also
include one-time reconstruction projects as well as ongoing projects
such as the Vanadzor Old Age Home and the Children’s Reception and
Orientation Center.
The Arabkir Medical Center, in Yerevan, provides a wide range of
medical services including prevention, diagnostics, and treatment of
various child illnesses, follow-up of patients with chronic diseases,
as well as psychosocial and rehabilitation services.
# # #