Armenian American Cultural Association, Inc. AACA

Satellite Clinic

In addition to the main facility in Yerevan, the Wellness Center operates satellite clinic in Gavar designed to provide health care services to Armenians who cannot afford travel to the main center in Yerevan.

The satellite clinic is a ten-room medical facility in the city of Gavar, 60 miles northeast of the capital city of Yerevan, where the rate of breast abnormalities is among the highest in the country. The building that houses the Gavar Clinic was extensively renovated prior to its opening in July 2003 and is now home to a modern health care facility, providing preventive screening to women, as well as family-centered primary health care services.

In July 2003, AACA established a Satellite Clinic in the town of Gavar (60 miles northeast of Yerevan in the Lake Sevan Region) to address the exorbitant rate of breast abnormalities there – among the highest in the country – targeting a remote and under-served population of over 200,000 people.

To provide essential services to those who could not afford travel to the main Center in Yerevan, an old 2-room garden house was extensively renovated and transformed into a 10-room modern health care facility. Earlier in 2003, AACA had invited a doctor (internist) from Gavar to do her US training in Family Medicine with Dr. Vicken Poochikian of Washington, DC – who also traveled to Armenia to establish (in addition to breast imaging and basic gynecology) the Clinic’s Family Medicine practice.

In September 2005, working closely with Salpy Akaragian, RN, MN, FIAN, of the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), the Wellness Center launched Health Fairs for Healthy Lifestyles at the Gavar Satellite Clinic for the population of the Lake Sevan Region – providing free check-ups, ultrasound screenings and referrals to all members of the family.