Events

ACMAO participates in The Second International Medical Congress of Armenia
June 28-30, 2007
Armenian Marriott Hotel, Yerevan, Armenia

A large group composed of ACMAO Executive and members participated in the works of the 2nd International Medical Congress of Armenia.

Public Health Lecture:
THE HEALTHY HEART: A Medical and Dietary Approach
March 30, 2007
A public health lecture was organized by ACMAO, with Dr. Herag Hamboyan and Mrs. Lucy Hamboyan as guest speakers. Around 100 members of the Armenian community in Toronto enjoyed the presentation and tips on staying healthy.

ACMAO's 3rd Annual Gala Dinner/Dance, February 24, 2007

The Armenian Canadian Medical Association of Ontario's Gala dinner took place on Saturday, February 24th, 2007 at the 'Granite Club' in Toronto. More than 350 people attended the dinner/dance, including benefactors, representatives of medical and pharmaceutical companies, ACMAO members, and friends.

This bi-annual gala creates the opportunity to acknowledge the dedication and continued support of the benefactors and donors, and it gives ACMAO a chance to present its accomplishments and future endeavours.

For the past few months, the executive members of ACMAO along with the members of the gala committee worked tirelessly to organize the event, as well as to collect the much needed funds.

ACMAO was created on the eve of December 8, 1988, when forty Toronto Armenian health providers met at the Armenian Community Centre and formed the association, whose mission was to aid those affected by the terrible Spitak earthquake in Armenia. Since then, ACMAO's executive has firmly believed in concerted efforts in the assistance of the homeland. It continues to strive to coordinate, streamline and facilitate medical help to Armenia and Artsakh.

In the last decade, ACMAO's efforts have been concentrated in Karabakh, where, under the auspices of the Ministry of Health, and in collaboration with the "Hand-in-Hand" non-governmental organization, it established several dental clinics, as well as a women's health clinic. Within the last two years, a Mobile Dental Clinic was created to provide dental services and assistance, free of charge, to citizens living in regions outside of Shushi, Hadrout, Kashatagh (Lachin), Mardakert and Martouni, where there are already five functional dental clinics.

In a letter addressed to ACMAO, Dr. Zoya Lazaryan, the Minister of Health of Karabakh, speaks highly of ACMAO's role in making a great, positive difference in the lives of the people living in Karabakh.

The formal introduction of the gala night was presented by Dr. Cyril Tahtadjian, in both Armenian and English languages. In highlighting the mission of ACMAO, he affirmed once again that the aid to Armenia and Karabakh is and will continue to be the primary goal of the organization. After he thanked the donors and guests, he encouraged everyone to support the continuous efforts of ACMAO both financially and morally.

Dr. Avedis Boghossian, the president of ACMAO, gave a fascinating PowerPoint presentation (15 MB) of the accomplishments of the organization. He thanked everybody present, especially those who, over the years, supported and helped ACMAO to accomplish its goals. He highly acknowledged the efforts of the dentists establishing the dental clinics, especially Dr. Zareh Ouzounian, who has been a long-time founding member.

The gala evening continued with a delicious dinner, followed by music and dance by the Paul Baggetta Band. The highlight of the evening was during the announcement of the lottery gifts, including a round-trip ticket to Armenia.

In the late hours of the night, the gala guests left the Granite Club with the satisfaction of being able to help their brothers and sisters in their homeland through the efforts of ACMAO.

With a fundraising effort, the Armenian Nurse's Association of ACMAO has recently taken on the task of a "Smoking Cessation and Public Health Education Program", which will take place in the "Healthy Village" of Lchashen, Armenia. The objective of this program is to assist Armenia by educational means and to create public awareness about the harms of smoking, thus creating a smoke-free environment in Armenia.

For further information, please contact ACMAO's website at www.acmao.ca

Dr. Ani Hasserjian (on behalf of ACMAO)
February 26, 2007

Press release
July 19, 2006
History can be manipulated, but truth cannot be denied:
The response by Dr. Zareh Ouzounian to the article "Karabakh separatists treat teeth using canadian money", published in Azeri online magazine Echo on May 5, 2006

9th Armenian Medical World Congress

Several members of ACMAO participated in the 9th Armenian Medical World Congress on June 29 - July 2, 2005 in San Francisco, CA. The meeting was a great success, and we would like to congratulate with organizers with it!

ACMAO presented its most recent projects: overview of dental project (Dr. Zareh Ouzounian), the Women's Health Clinic (Dr. Avedis Bogosyan), humanitarian shipments to Armenia (Dr. Berge Minassian) and free full-text online resources for Armenia's scientists (Dr. Artur Gevorgyan). In addition, Drs. Ouzounian and Minassian led the most important discussion on Strategic Planning for Armenia's health care.

General membership meeting

ACMAO is please to have hosted a general membership meeting on Friday, April 15, 2005 to a large group of interested health care professionals. For more information about the meeting, membership and upcoming elections, please check out the minutes from the meeting.

Armenian Nurses' Association's Health Fair was a success!

The Armenian Nurses' Association of Ontario, Canada (ANAOC) Health Fair occurred on Sunday, April 10, 2005; 1:00-5:00 p.m. at the Armenian Community Centre (for pictures, click here).

In her opening remarks, Mrs. Sonia Sarkissian, the President of ANAOC, thanked all nursing members, organizing committee members, supporters, exhibitors, participating health care providers, sponsors, students and all those who contributed to the success of the Health Fair. She also mentioned that this was a historical day in the history of Armenians in Southern Ontario since, in addition to the previous health education lectures organized by the nurses, this was the first Health Fair taking place in Toronto for the Armenian community!

Through the use of 25 display booths and brief health information video sessions, the Armenian Nurses were able to meet the health educational needs of the community and increase health awareness. Close to 500 individuals attended the Health Fair, including the public, exhibitors and health care providers.

The ANAOC Health Fair enabled the community members to have one-to-one interaction with exhibitors/health care providers, ask questions, have their blood pressure and blood sugar levels checked, and finally relax with a brief massage session…

All those who attended the Health Fair provided their very positive feedback and words of appreciation to the Armenian Nurses' Association members in achieving such a successful milestone in meeting the needs of the community, which was also reflected in both the Armenian and English evaluation responses and the ANAOC guest book.

The Second ACMAO Gala Dinner/Dance - February 5, 2005

ACMAO's Second Gala Dinner/Dance/Silent Auction took place on February 5, 2005 at the Liberty Grand Entertainment Complex, located at the Exhibition Place in Toronto. If history was to be repeated, it already was to be a success, but who would have guessed this phenomenal outcome. With over 340 tickets sold, the room was filled with supporters waiting for a succulent meal and an earful of fantastic music and entertainment. With over 80 items in the Silent Auction, the crowd had an almost never-ending opportunity to "Shop till you Drop". A bilingual introductory speech by Dr. Cyril Tahtadjian introduced attendees to ACMAO, while Dr. Berge Minassian gave a fascinating PowerPoint presentation displaying the achievements of the organization over the past 17 years. Notable speakers were the Ambassador of the Republic of Armenia Mr. Ara Papyan and the Member of Parliament Ms. Susan Kadis. The presentations had such an impact that a very generous Mr. David Choi offered to donate an ambulance to help the projects in the underserviced regions of Armenia. As the crowd danced the night away, over $40,000 was raised to help current ACMAO projects. The organizing committee thanks all those who helped and supported the event and looks forward to achieving even higher goals with the next Gala.

Check out the pictures from that night here.

The First ACMAO Gala Dinner/Dance took place on October 19, 2002 at the same venue. It garnered support for medical, dental and education projects being developed in Armenia and Karabagh.

Fundraising campaign for dental projects in Karabakh

The ACMAO dental division, in partnership with AMAQ (Armenian Medical Association of Quebec) just completed a fund-raising campain in order to build three additional dental clinics in Karabagh. One in the town of Martuni, one in Martakert, and a mobile clinic for the rural regions. This project will complete the territory of Karabagh regarding its dental needs. Each clinic requires $50,000 in capital cost to build and equip, and another $10,000 annually in operating expenses. Our fund-raising not only reached, but it surpassed our target! The ACMAO raised $140,000 and has another $140,000 in pleadges for the operating expenses for the coming years! The AMAQ raised $60.000!

Please be advised that this fund-raising is an ON-GOING Nation-Building effort, so we will keep encouraging any potential sponsors to please consider donations as we plan not only to increase the number of clinics by expanding to Armenia, but also to diversify the cope of activities within these clinics to include medical activities other than dentistry . We will go to Armenia/Karabagh at the end of July 2004 in order to finalize the locations of the clinics, draw the plans, hire the contractors, etc... We will keep you regularly up-dated on the work progress.

Luys Vocal Quintet concert, May 29, 2004, Toronto, ON

The LUYS concerts, held on May 29, 2004 in Toronto, June 3rd in Vancouver and June 5 in Montreal were a real delight. They were organized as a part of the Fundraising Campaign for our dental clinics in Karabakh. The Toronto and Montreal concerts, part of our fund-rasing effort, were complete successes, with over 650 people in Toronto and over 800 in Montreal. The vocal quintet LUYS presented a delighful repertoire of Armenian liturgic as well as folkloric songs, representing hundreds of years of Armenian culture. Some comments we received from the audience: "Most beautiful....", "Best concert I heard for many decades I live in Canada...", "They are true Ambassadors of our Culture..." Their vocal arrangements litterally subjugated our audiences. It was a total success. Photos will be posted here soon.

ACMAO presentation at the AGBU

On September 12, 2003, Dr. Zareh Ouzounian, a member of the Dental Division of ACMAO and a member of the Executive Board of the Armenian International Medical Committee, presented a slide show on ACMAO projects in Armenia and Karabakh. The event took place at the hall of the Armenian General Benevolent Union in Toronto with participation of a large number of members of the Toronto Armenian Community and representation from Armenian organizations.

8th Armenian Medical World Congress, Toronto, Canada, July 4-8, 2001

In July 2001, ACMAO hosted the 8th Armenian Medical World Congress.

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