Patient Stories

Older Armenians
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“I will see light, what else to wish? There is hardly anything more than that.” —Taisa Chirkova, an 86-year-old woman living at the Nork Nursing Home in Yerevan.

The Armenian EyeCare Project visited two nursing homes in Yerevan earlier this year to provide eye examinations for the residents. Approximately 900 people live in six nursing homes throughout Armenia. For a nation steeped in traditions of strong family ties and extended family support, Armenians view the need for these homes with increasing concern.

Older Armenians who live in nursing homes are from socially vulnerable families.  They are identified as adult “orphans” and “abandoned parents”—single and lonely people.  A few temporary residents are placed in the nursing homes by their families in the winter and then taken back to their family home during warmer weather.  From all walks of life, rural and urban areas, many are refugees.

Of the 450 people in the residences that the EyeCare Project visited, 250 received examinations. Alex Malayan, Director of the S. Malayan Ophthalmologic Center, performed 31 surgeries in the MEH, and 10 residents received laser treatments in the MEH. In addition, 100 nursing home residents were referred for follow-up and extensive examinations.

For five days, the MEH was parked in the front yard of the Haghtanak Nursing home.  For the AECP medical staff, it was an exciting opportunity to help some special people in need.  While visiting with and examining the residents, the staff had mixed feelings.  It was rewarding to receive the blessings of the older people, whose sight they restored.  Yet, Dr. Irina Buniatyan said, “We feel much sadness for these people who have to stay in this miserable shelter, though some of them have children who are quite well-off children and once many had good jobs, but now have no resources.”

For the nursing home residents, the arrival of the Mobile Eye Hospital generated excitement.  The MEH was always surrounded by people who wanted to socialize—to talk with people, but more important, to have someone to listen to them and give them attention—social and medical.  Zhora Gasparyan, a 68-year-old male resident of Haghtanak, where 70% of the residents are women, joked, “Who knows? Maybe if I see at least with one eye, I will get married.”

Haghtanak (which means Victory) Nursing Home is directed by David Shahbazyan.  There are 230 residents; the average age is 75. “We have already had screening missions, including eye screening. However, this was for the first time that a comprehensive approach was shown which allowed not only to identify the patients, examine our bed-ridden residents, but also to organize treatment here, as the MEH was stationed in the premises of our institution,” Shahbazyan explained. “And we are also pleased that residents of Nork orphanage are brought here for treatment.”

Arus Harutunyan, a 79-year-old Haghtanak resident, said, “I can’t believe I will be able to see after so many years. You know, both eyes were blind.”

At Nork Nursing Home, directed by Andranik Danielyan, there are 220 residents; the average age is 75. Like Haghtanak, 70 percent of residents are women.

“Vision problems are common for the elderly. The AECP initiative was very timely and well organized. Our residents were screened for eye diseases; many received laser treatment and underwent surgery in the MEH,” Danielyan explained. “The doctors also gave us follow-up treatment plans for patients with difficult-to-treat eye disease and we will make sure they get the care they need.”  

Those who received care are grateful for AECP’s attention. “Thank you so much for coming! I am deeply moved by the attention,” said Sofia Keropyan, an 81-year-old Nork resident. “We are really lonely here, with no relatives left. It’s so good that there are people who care about us.”