Partnership aimed at elevating pediatric healthcare in Armenia: the professional visit of «Valley Children's Healthcare» Children's Hospital (USA) has started at «Wigmore»

YEREVAN, 9 JULY, ARMENPRESS. The inaugural professional delegation from «Valley Children's Healthcare», one of the leading pediatric healthcare institutions in the USA, has been visiting «Wigmore Women's and Children's Hospital» for a week.

This is the US delegation's first visit to Armenia, dedicated to sharing experience and enhancing collaboratino with «Wigmore» specialists. 

On the first day of the visit, the guests were introduced to Wigmore hospital’s history, mission and vision for future development; the scope of the ongoing partnership and future prospects were discussed. 

According to «Armenpress», during the hospital tour, the visitors engaged with the staff, familiarized themselves with the hospital services and the technical capacities. They then proceeded with the planned agenda of the visit. 

On July 8th, a partnership plaque was unveiled at «Wigmore».

«Wigmore Group» CEO, orthopedic and spine surgeon Zaven Koloyan, stated that the main goal of this cooperation with the leading US children's hospital is to significantly improve the quality of children's health services provided in the country.

«In addition to the different programs focused on medicine and science, I also highly prioritize the initiatives focused on improving hospital management and administration that we are discussing with Fresno’s Children's Hospital. We are witnessing in real-time how this interaction increases the efficiency of our hospital's operations», - said Dr. Koloyan.

In turn Dr. Karen Dahl, Vice President of Medical Affairs and Physician Wellness of «Valley Children's Healthcare», emphasized that this is a unique opportunity in the field of Armenian pediatrics. According to Dr. Karen Dahl this international cooperation includes continuous exchange of experiences between the physicians, nursing education, as well as introduction of international standards of quality and patient safety in hospital management in Armenia. 

«Impact of this mission is different from other medical missions where the focus is mostly on individual patient care, but this one is not just patient-oriented healthcare, but systemic improvement. With this, we want to bring changes and elevate patient safety and the quality of medical care. We believe and hope that during this partnership, we will be able to help implement all of this at «Wigmore» and in Armenia. The availability of a teaching process is also very important here, as it provides a good opportunity for both sides to see what the reality is like in other countries», - mentioned Dr. Karen Dahl.

Since the signing of Partnership agreement, three teams from «Wigmore Women's and Children's Hospital» have already visited the United States for observership and  training. These groups included pediatric emergency physicians, pediatricians, pediatric neurologist and neurosurgeon, maxillofacial surgeon, radiologist, and hospital administrative staff.  

Representative of Fresno's Armenian community, former Physician-in-Chief of «Kaiser Permanente Hospital», Dr. Varoujan Altebarmakian, who has worked in the field of medical administration for many years, shares that he has been at the core of establishing the partnership between these two medical institutions. He was the link who introduced the heads of the two medical facilities.

«I am so delighted to participate in the opening ceremony of the partnership plaque. I liken this partnership to a coin that has two sides. Typically, we think one side wins and the other loses, but in our case, both sides of the coin are winners. «Valley Children's» wins as the first institution to launch this kind of global healthcare initiative, bringing changes in the healthcare system. «Wigmore Women's and Children's Hospital» wins by gaining the opportunity to share experiences and acquaint itself with the expertise, skills, and knowledge of the doctors at «Valley Children's», - said V. Altebarmakyan.

A member of the «Valley Children's» delegation, pediatric emergency physician Dr. Julieanna Sahouria, emphasized that within the first week already they managed to work together and gain a lot of experience and skills from each other.

During the visit, an educational conference on «Pediatric neurology and neurosurgery» was held at Wigmore hospital. Dr. Cesar Santos, Medical Director of Neurosciences, Head of pediatric Neurology and Dr. Patricia Clerkin, Medical director of pediatric Neurosurgery, as well as Dr. Steven Ehrreich, pediatric neurology,  presented during the conference, together with Wigmore physicians. 

The collaboration between «Valley Children's healthcare» and «Wigmore Women’s and Children’s hospital» was established in 2023 with the signing of a partnership agreement aimed at elevating pediatric healthcare in Armenia. The partnership envisages exchange of experience between Armenian and American doctors, nursing education and coaching, improvement of quality and patient safety culture, as well as cooperation around formal education programs and joint research initiatives.

As experts from both sides confirm, it it’s not possible to achieve systemic improvement and sustainable development without investing in continuous education and adaptation of best practices. And this partnership is a vivid manifestation thereof.