Update: Help Wounded Soldiers
Our campaign to give the Homeland Defender’s Rehab Center furniture and equipment so that they can rehabilitate 300 more soldiers every month is 96% funded!
About the campaign
In December we launched a fundraiser to help the Homeland Defender’s Rehab Center increase their capacity so that they can offer free, dignified rehab to 300 injured soldiers every month on top of the 370 service members they’re already able to care for.
The Homeland Defender’s Rehab Center is a social enterprise that offers free medical care and rehabilitation to wounded soldiers, disabled army veterans, and anyone else who has health issues as a result of military service defending Armenia and Artsakh, including volunteer soldiers from abroad. The 370 patients they’re able to serve every month includes 70 inpatients, 200 outpatients, and 100 patients receiving care at other medical facilities across Armenia that the center’s specialists travel to.
Before the Second Artsakh War began on September 27, 2020, there were an estimated 9,000 disabled veterans in Armenia from previous wars, including the First Artsakh War (1988–1994). That number has sharply increased. According to unofficial data, there are about 8,000 injured soldiers from last year’s war.
Disabled soldiers like Hayk, Vahe, and Vardan face many challenges on the road to recovery, including limited and delayed benefits and assistance from the state, limited to no access to expensive, first-class medical services, and limited educational and professional opportunities. To meet their needs and those of other disabled soldiers, the center began renovating a 4-floor wing of theirs so that they could care for more soldiers free of charge. For a full breakdown of this project and the work Homeland Defender’s does, see our project sheet.
Where your donations are going
The funds raised by our community (that’s YOU) are being used to secure furniture and equipment for doctors’ rooms and reception areas, an acupuncture room, physiotherapy room, an occupational therapy hall, speech therapy room, ultrasound room, electroshock therapy room, massage room, nurses’ quarters, sterilization and bandaging room, laboratory, two gyms and a kitchen. To see a detailed budget breakdown, just go here.
To date you’ve raised $191,275 to date — 96% of our total goal of $200,000. In February we transferred $94,680 to the center so that they could begin procuring the equipment they need. They’ve already spent $65,554 on new rehab equipment, including a physiotherapy staircase, treadmill (pictured above), wall bars, multi functional hospital beds, and equipment for an express laboratory, including a 12x15ml centrifuge and adaptor, an automatic coagulometer, hematology analyzer, urine analyzer, and electrolyte analyzer.
They’ve also used the funds transferred to them to procure furniture for checkrooms, patient rooms, bathrooms, processing and sterilization rooms, and the lab.
How you can help us reach our goal
We’re so close to our goal, we can already see the rest of the shiny, professional equipment and furniture Armenia’s wounded soldiers deserve! You can make a tax deductible donation to support this campaign by clicking here. As with all our campaigns, you can find detailed information about where donations go and how they’re being used on our website.
Can’t make a donation but still want to support Armenia’s wounded heroes? You can! Starting a Facebook or Instagram fundraiser takes just a couple clicks, and can have a big impact on this cause. We’ve broken it down step-by-step on our blog.
Questions, comments, or concerns? You can always reach us about this campaign or others at contact@onearmenia.org. Thank you for supporting Armenia’s wounded soldiers!
