Roads for Life (RFL) President ZeinaKassem asserted that Lebanon is going regional thanks to the rescue culture it had adopted since 2011 and reaching out towards Iraq, which is in most need of providing its medical and nursing staff with specialized rescue sessions.
Six doctors from the Kadhimiya Hospital in Baghdad thus took part in the ATLS and ATCN training session organized by RFL and managed by ATLS National Chair Dr. George AbiSaadin cooperation with the American University of Beirut Medical Center (AUBMC), the American College of Surgeons (ACS) and ACS Region 17 Chief Dr. Saoud Al-Turki. After graduating with their fellow Lebanese physicians, the Iraqi doctors underwent a second Training of Trainers session and will soon return to Baghdad where they are expected to inaugurate a new one-of-its-kind protocol for rescuing victims in Iraq.
Kassem's statement coincided with the delivery of ATLS certificates to 18 ER physicians and ATCN certificates to 14 nurses from the following hospitals: Rafik Hariri Governmental Hospital, Ain w Zein Hospital, the Lebanese American University Medical Center - Rizk Hospital, Al-Arz Hospital, Al-Irfan Hospital, Al-Jabal Hospital, Saint George Hospital University Medical Center, Bellevue Hospital, Saint Joseph Hospital, Kesserwan Medical Center, North Medical Center, AUBMC and the Military Hospital. Fransabank and Bank Audi acted as strategic partners for these sessions.
In conclusion, Kassem said, RFL has generalized the rescue culture in Lebanon and is contributing to spreading this humanitarian experience outside the country, as it believes that rescue knows no religion, confession, race or geographical boundaries.She hoped that the new Iraqi trainers will generalize the "golden hour for rescue" in their country and that constant communication and coordination will be initiated with Iraqi hospitals in order to develop their rescue methods and techniques.
