Viva-MTS and Athena Charitable Foundation have teamed up to launch a pilot program of dental services in the village of Chinari, Tavush province. Athena representatives visited the village earlier to evaluate the local needs. The purpose the partners are driven by is to stand by those who live in border communities.
The clinic operating in the village has no dental services to offer to the locals. The small room of the clinic has a technically useless dentist’s chair installed 40 years ago. It was last used about two years ago, during the July war, and later, when a group of young professional volunteers arrived in the village. Only few people can afford going to a private practitioner; getting to Berd some 35 km away and back is not feasible either.
After the installation of new equipment and a dental chair, Chinari will have a dental service, which will be free for its residents.
“I have been a nurse in Chinari for over 40 years now. And to the best of my recollection, the dental equipment has been unchanged. Probably, there have been no means to get a new one. People living in borderland settlements live in permanent fear and under lasting stress. There is no dental clinic here. People are forced to get to the regional center. And yet, a dental cabinet is very much needed here,” says Laris Tserunyan, the nurse of the village.
“Stress may cause all sorts of issues. One of them is the problem with teeth: people may even lose their teeth. The levels of risks are high among people living in borderland areas. That is why we have picked a borderland village to implement the program. People who live here need to know that they are not alone and they have their backs covered. No one is going to help us, if we are not prepared to help ourselves,” Hrachya Grigoryan, the founding director of the foundation says.
Viva-MTS and Athena are much trusted in the village. People here know Viva-MTS both as an information and telecom company and also as one that is always guided by the principles of social responsibility. They are also familiar with the philanthropic activities of the charity foundation, which did a program here about two years ago.
“This is not the end point of Armenia; here is the place where Armenia begins. Chinari is situated quite far from the regional center. It’s not an easy endeavor to overcome 35 km to get to a doctor and get back to the village. There are people who just don’t have the means to get the treatment. This program will definitely help ease their burden,” Samvel Saghoyan, the head of village administration, says.
The foundation’s next visit to Chinari will be more tangible. The partner organizations plan to launch dental services in two villages of Tavush by the end of this year. The second village will be chosen based on the results of another visit. Viva-MTS has invested AMD 5 million in the pilot program.
