Amidst a beautiful array of autumn leaves, spanning all shades of reds to greens, SANA's medical team travelled to our highest mountains, back to Bsharri. Bsharri’s outreach trip was organized in collaboration with World Vision (www.wvi.org) and Bsharri’s Governmental Hospital. The meeting venue was Bsharri’s Governmental Hospital that neighbored the house in which the philosopher Gibran Khalil Gibran was born.

Amidst all this natural glory and mental aura, 2 concurrent sessions were carried out. Dr. Norma Rizk held an elaborate educational session covering and answering all questions pertaining to pregnancy, prenatal and post-partum care, breast feeding and post-partum blues and preventive medical care for women throughout their life span. Meanwhile, Dr. Reem Abu-Rustum, Katia Fajloun RN and Noura Kassir carried out the medical aspect of the mission providing individual counseling to our ladies who were mostly on their first pregnancy, and at 8-21 weeks of pregnancy. Basic maternal evaluation including glucose and hemoglobin testing, as well as ultrasonographic assessment, were provided, and prenatal vitamin supplementation was made available.

The outreach mission was heralded as a success by all in attendance and as a consequence, requests for future missions were voiced, with a special focus on education, where the goal is to plan further educational missions for patients, as well as specific missions targeting the hospital's medical personnel to further enhance their own basic knowledge and their medical know-how and medical skills.

SANA's team descended back home amidst the splendor, infused with such a sense of purpose and much much gratification...