• To improve the professional competencies of the physician and nurse staff of Lori region rural ambulatories and health stations.
• To improve the training competencies of the counterpart physicians and nurse trainers based in Polyclinic #5.
• To procure essential medical equipment, instruments and supplies for Lori region rural physician-nurse teams.
• To secure official recognition of and support for the Health Training Center as a regional family medicine training venue.

• The Lori Health Training Center at Vanadzor Policlinic No. 5 formally opened on October 21 as part of the ASTP/AIHA Lori-Milwaukee program. The training center serves as a model primary care training institution to build capacity in the region, specifically addressing the needs of rural providers. The center has focused on the development of skills for rural primary care practitioners and has introduced family medicine principles to improve primary healthcare (PHC) delivery in the region. The Ambassador of the United States to Armenia, the USAID mission director, the Governor of Lori Marz, the Deputy Minister of Health of Armenia, and other honorable guests welcomed the participants at the opening ceremony.
  

Clinical Organization and Capacity Building

• Through a subcontract from PADCO, AIHA and CIH established a primary care skills training center at Vanadzor Polyclinic #5 as part of the Armenian Social Transition Program. The PSTC program was designed to improve care in the rural areas of Lori region by providing training to rural ambulatory health centers and FAP staff to improve their professional skills and competencies, thus improving the quality of the care provided. The curricula focused on family medicine training, which involved substituting polyclinics and ambulatories for hospitals as a major deliverer of care, thereby reducing the number of hospital beds and hospitalizations and increasing the variety of services rendered in a given region. The PSTC was designed to be a replicable training program with wide applicability throughout the region. By October of 2003, six of the 24 curriculum modules that were originally envisioned for the center were developed: EMS, community health, chest pain, abdominal pain, joint problems and infectious diseases.
• The training center formally opened on October 21, 2003 with the support of the Ambassador of the United States to Armenia, the USAID mission, the Lori regional government, the Ministry of Health of Armenia, AIHA and PADCO.
• The partners established the requirements to secure official recognition for, and support of, the Health Training Center as a regional family medicine training venue and the certification of the Armenian trainers as family medicine trainers.
• The partners emphasized strengthening the training competencies of the Armenian counterpart physician and nurse trainers through a “train-the-trainer” (TOT) component that was incorporated into each training session. TOTs for “Diabetes and Thyroid Diseases” and “Geriatrics” sessions were conducted for Vanadzor faculty, and followed by training courses for rural physicians and nurses.