The Beginning of Something Great
I want to start by sincerely thanking everyone who has supported this cause and really made it all possible. I am proud to be leaving for Yerevan on April 17 to volunteer my occupational therapy services on behalf of Therapists for Armenia as well as the Armenian American Sports Medicine Coalition.
Let’s start with a bit of context:
I became involved with Therapists for Armenia (TfA) in 2019. I met Armineh Babikian, TfA founder, in New Orleans at the 2019 American Occupational Therapy Association Annual Conference where we were both presenting research results in the poster exhibition. We sat for lunch one day, and over crawfish, gator fritters, and a bowl of gumbo, she shared with me her experience with Children of Armenia Fund and her vision of advancing occupational therapy in Armenia. I shared with her my recent experience traveling to Yerevan with the Armenian American Health Professional Organization Medical Mission in July 2018 to provide occupational therapy services to locals in need. I knew one day we were bound to collaborate further.
Armineh has truly done a tremendous job with organizing and uniting therapists and other allied health professionals interested in promoting our fields in our motherland. The stated mission of Therapists for Armenia is “to advance the fields of occupational, physical, and speech therapy through educational outreach, collaboration, and advocacy; to promote accessibility and inclusion of people with disabilities; and to foster well being through a synergy of services, supports, and resources within Armenian communities.”
Since TfA’s inception, we have organized numerous programs and projects to make that mission a reality.
At the start of the pandemic, we organized an art drive to collect colorful, cheerful art for the residents at the Armenian Nursing & Rehab Center in Emerson, NJ.
As we all looked for ways to help Armenians affected by COVID-19, we were plunged further into despair with news of the Artsakh conflict rearing its ugly head yet again.
Our focus shifted to helping those in Artsakh affected by the war. We also wanted to find ways to support the therapists and other health professionals in Armenia. We wrote to Cheryl Hall, author of The Occupational Therapy Toolkit and The Physical Therapy Toolkit (excellent resources for treatment ideas and patient education materials for any therapist working in physical disabilities), who kindly offered to donate 5 copies of each to individual therapists in Armenia.
The Therapists for Armenia website goes lives next week which features two projects that further support our mission of collaborating with therapists in Armenia and providing educational outreach:
(1) TfA Webinar Series — Since May 2020, TfA has hosted over 20 speakers to present webinars on various topics to help share valuable clinical information with therapists in Armenia. It was a wonderful and valuable experience to present on my area of expertise, Occupational Therapy in Home Health, this past Saturday April 10, 2021.
(2) TfA Education Resource Library — We have also collaborated and put together a wealth of clinical information, patient handouts, and assessment tools to be used at the disposal of therapists in Armenia. I was happy to contribute the section on Peripheral Nerve Injuries.
And, of course, lastly, Therapists for Armenia and the Armenian American Sports Medicine Coalition has sent numerous volunteers to Armenia in person to provide direct patient care to wounded soldiers and to provide inservices and other supportive programs to the therapists and other allied health professionals in Armenia.
I will be accompanied by Talin Mirzaei, an ambitious and bright graduate of California State University — Northridge, who will play the vital role of interpreter and mentee. Talin has her B.S. in Kinesiology — Applied Fitness and is currently applying to graduate school for Occupational Therapy.
We again thank everyone for making this possible and are very much looking forward to sharing the impact of your contribution via updates on this blog powered by Medium.com.
We are honored and humbled by the opportunity to give back to Armenians in this way.
Please also consider donating to Therapists to Armenia.
With love,
Alissa Bonjuklian MS OTR/L, LSVT
