Saturday, February 23
Balloon animals again prove to be the perfect icebreaker.
This morning the delegation visited the PRO-SAN Clinic in the Botanica District of Chisinau. The clinic, a project sponsored by the Eastern Virginia Medical School, opened in January 2001 and has seen more than 20,000 patients in just over a year. It is the primary training center for the family practice residents from the medical university. "This clinic is mobbed during the day," said Francine Lutz, EVMS executive assistant, office of the vice president for planning and program development.
AAFP Foundation Vice President David Massanari, M.D., inspects some of the medical equipment that arrived with the October shipment.
After lunch, the delegation visited a children's transitional placement home, which is also an EVMS project. The home holds up to 22 children who are undergoing social and medical rehabilitation as they prepare to return to their families. Some of the children are disabled; others come from homes where substance abuse and physical abuse are prevalent.
The foster home also serves as a training site for the family practice residents, who have an opportunity to treat children from ages 2 to 15. Team members carried dozens of plastic bags containing food, cleaning supplies, linens, towels and small toys into the bright, cheery and immaculate residential home.
AAFP Past President Bruce Bagley, M.D., of Albany, N.Y., and Dr. Victor Puiu, director of the PRO-SAN Clinic, stand in front of American and Moldovan flags, a symbol of the spirit of cooperation that has fostered the growth of family practice in Moldova.
Fresh from afternoon naps, the children are wide awake for the delegation's tour.
The foster home has been recently renovated, but the playground just outside still needs a facelift.
