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PRESS RELEASE
Date: February 27, 2014
Birthright Armenia
Contact: Linda Yepoyan
[email protected]
www.birthrightarmenia.org
Birthright Armenia Alum Led by Her Passion to Help
Growing up as a third generation Armenian in southern California, Armenian
culture has always been a part of Jamie Kolar's family and something that
she wanted to learn more about. With a maternal grandmother of Armenian
descent born and raised in Fresno, family reunions took place there while
growing up, and still do. In May 2013, just months shy of her 30th
birthday, Jamie took a bold step in her quest to learn more about her
heritage. The medically trained firefighter paramedic at the Los Angeles
County Fire Department joined Birthright Armenia, and boarded a plane to her
ancestral homeland to carry out volunteer service through the Armenian
Volunteer Corps (AVC).
"When I applied to volunteer in Armenia I had a lengthy list of goals and
motivations for my five-week trip, which included learning Armenian so that
I could continue to use it after returning home to better serve the
Armenians of the Los Angeles community, " she explains. "But within my first
twenty-four hours upon arriving there, I clearly knew that I would want to
stay longer than just five weeks," admits Jamie. As she started her
volunteer work conducting training at the Ministry of Emergency Situations,
she met many challenges and rewarding experiences.
"The common threads in all of my work placements in Armenia were the lack of
vital equipment, the very resourceful use of the equipment that they did
have, and their strong desire to absorb new information. Coming from one of
the highest trained fire departments in the world, in a city where there is
no end to the supply of medical equipment, it is easy for me to take for
granted the abundance of both training and equipment available. For example,
what we consider disposable in the US is carefully cleaned and repaired in
Armenia for continued use," she reports. It was in Gyumri where Jamie got a
much clearer understanding of the current state of emergency medical
services in Armenia.
Jamie found that most of the funding and donated equipment is funneled to
Yerevan, leaving Armenia's second largest city of Gyumri operating
ambulances with empty shelves and lacking vital trauma equipment. "Given
the treacherous roads and many accidents that occur in the surrounding area,
I was specifically asked by the doctor in charge of the ambulance to teach a
course on medical treatment for car accident victims. I was excited to
share my knowledge. And the ambulance staff, many coming in on their own
time-off duty, was eager to learn. I quickly discovered that the ambulance
company didn't have a spinal immobilization board, something that is carried
as standard equipment on every ambulance in the US. On further
investigation I also found that they were lacking many important basic
trauma medical supplies, of which I knew we had surplus of used equipment in
the US. Many of the larger ambulance companies and fire departments in the
US will purchase the newest model of equipment, letting the used equipment
pile up in storage and held as back-up equipment. When the room becomes
full, the used equipment is donated to a place where it can be used.
Through the contacts I was making in Armenia and my career in Los Angeles, I
knew that I could be the bridge between the need for medical equipment in
Armenia and the surplus that is waiting in the United States.
Her role seemed clear cut at this point of discovery. Experiencing all of
the above first hand made Jamie further driven to engage, as helping others
has always been the driving motivation behind her becoming a paramedic.
"Granted with a one year leave of absence from my job, I moved to Armenia
and set up a non-profit called "Aid to Armenia" www.AidToArmenia.com. With
the help of financial donations I was able to open up my outreach to more
than just the shipment of medical equipment and training for the ambulance
personnel. I now have a program to teach cardiopulmonary resuscitation
(CPR) and first aid to the general public, and to gift a sterile first aid
kit to village families so that they can properly and effectively use the
training they receive", Jamie explains.
"In my remaining time while I am living here in Armenia, I hope to build a
strong foundation for Aid to Armenia and establish a successful network, so
the organization can continue its vital mission in the years to come. I am
so thankful to Birthright Armenia to have gotten a chance to come to my
homeland and volunteer, that was in itself an amazing feeling. But the real
satisfaction came for me when one day while doing volunteer work I stopped
for a minute to look around at my surroundings, suddenly it sunk in that no
one else that I knew of was waiting to step into this role in my absence and
it hit me: my being here in Armenia really matters".
Date: February 27, 2014
Birthright Armenia
Contact: Linda Yepoyan
[email protected]
www.birthrightarmenia.org
Birthright Armenia Alum Led by Her Passion to Help
Growing up as a third generation Armenian in southern California, Armenian
culture has always been a part of Jamie Kolar's family and something that
she wanted to learn more about. With a maternal grandmother of Armenian
descent born and raised in Fresno, family reunions took place there while
growing up, and still do. In May 2013, just months shy of her 30th
birthday, Jamie took a bold step in her quest to learn more about her
heritage. The medically trained firefighter paramedic at the Los Angeles
County Fire Department joined Birthright Armenia, and boarded a plane to her
ancestral homeland to carry out volunteer service through the Armenian
Volunteer Corps (AVC).
"When I applied to volunteer in Armenia I had a lengthy list of goals and
motivations for my five-week trip, which included learning Armenian so that
I could continue to use it after returning home to better serve the
Armenians of the Los Angeles community, " she explains. "But within my first
twenty-four hours upon arriving there, I clearly knew that I would want to
stay longer than just five weeks," admits Jamie. As she started her
volunteer work conducting training at the Ministry of Emergency Situations,
she met many challenges and rewarding experiences.
"The common threads in all of my work placements in Armenia were the lack of
vital equipment, the very resourceful use of the equipment that they did
have, and their strong desire to absorb new information. Coming from one of
the highest trained fire departments in the world, in a city where there is
no end to the supply of medical equipment, it is easy for me to take for
granted the abundance of both training and equipment available. For example,
what we consider disposable in the US is carefully cleaned and repaired in
Armenia for continued use," she reports. It was in Gyumri where Jamie got a
much clearer understanding of the current state of emergency medical
services in Armenia.
Jamie found that most of the funding and donated equipment is funneled to
Yerevan, leaving Armenia's second largest city of Gyumri operating
ambulances with empty shelves and lacking vital trauma equipment. "Given
the treacherous roads and many accidents that occur in the surrounding area,
I was specifically asked by the doctor in charge of the ambulance to teach a
course on medical treatment for car accident victims. I was excited to
share my knowledge. And the ambulance staff, many coming in on their own
time-off duty, was eager to learn. I quickly discovered that the ambulance
company didn't have a spinal immobilization board, something that is carried
as standard equipment on every ambulance in the US. On further
investigation I also found that they were lacking many important basic
trauma medical supplies, of which I knew we had surplus of used equipment in
the US. Many of the larger ambulance companies and fire departments in the
US will purchase the newest model of equipment, letting the used equipment
pile up in storage and held as back-up equipment. When the room becomes
full, the used equipment is donated to a place where it can be used.
Through the contacts I was making in Armenia and my career in Los Angeles, I
knew that I could be the bridge between the need for medical equipment in
Armenia and the surplus that is waiting in the United States.
Her role seemed clear cut at this point of discovery. Experiencing all of
the above first hand made Jamie further driven to engage, as helping others
has always been the driving motivation behind her becoming a paramedic.
"Granted with a one year leave of absence from my job, I moved to Armenia
and set up a non-profit called "Aid to Armenia" www.AidToArmenia.com. With
the help of financial donations I was able to open up my outreach to more
than just the shipment of medical equipment and training for the ambulance
personnel. I now have a program to teach cardiopulmonary resuscitation
(CPR) and first aid to the general public, and to gift a sterile first aid
kit to village families so that they can properly and effectively use the
training they receive", Jamie explains.
"In my remaining time while I am living here in Armenia, I hope to build a
strong foundation for Aid to Armenia and establish a successful network, so
the organization can continue its vital mission in the years to come. I am
so thankful to Birthright Armenia to have gotten a chance to come to my
homeland and volunteer, that was in itself an amazing feeling. But the real
satisfaction came for me when one day while doing volunteer work I stopped
for a minute to look around at my surroundings, suddenly it sunk in that no
one else that I knew of was waiting to step into this role in my absence and
it hit me: my being here in Armenia really matters".