Blog – Page 2 – ASSAMEH Birth & Beyond

The TAKREEM 2022 Awards Ceremony was held at The Cultural Foundation in Abu-Dhabi under the patronage of His Excellency Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan (26 October 2022)
Arab men and women who have made their mark in the fields of science and technology, innovation, entrepreneurship, and humanitarian work were recognized.
ASSAMEH Birth and Beyond, which specializes in the rehabilitation and running of children’s wards in government hospitals won an award in the category of humanitarian and civic services.

Beyond simply being a means of transportation to the hospital, neonatal ambulances should be specially equipped and include pediatric trained personnel.

With that in mind, in 2018 ASSAMEH Birth and Beyond acquired a new ambulance and transformed it into the first and only government owned neonatal mobile intensive care unit, fully equipped with a portable incubator, a mobile respirator, and an MRI compatible monitoring system.

This new Ambulance ensures the safe transport of newborns under the supervision of a team of well-trained doctors and helps prevent complications such as brain encephalopathy and neonatal asphyxia.

To date, this ambulance has assisted in the transport of several critical patients to the hospital and provided all the necessary emergency care before arriving. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Nadine Mokdessi and her theater company for their generous contribution and for the support of S.I.D.I.A. sal.- Société d’Importation et de Distribution Automobiles.

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ASSAMEH Birth and Beyond is a mission, but the medical team are the heartbeat of our mission and keep us going. Led by Dr. Sacy, a team of dedicated doctors, residents, and nurses work collaboratively on both the medical state and the emotional state of the patients and their families.

The leading medical team is comprised of pediatricians and specialists, pediatric nurses, and rotating residents from leading private hospitals across Lebanon. The pediatric ward is a life-saving facility with the best medical and surgical equipment and leading specialists to handle every case:

Pediatric and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit:

• Prof Robert Sacy – Neonatologist
• Ass Prof Yolla Nassif
• Dr Joelle Ghadieh

Our Nephrologists:
• Ass. Prof Rami Ghobril
• Ass. Prof Pauline Abiujaoude

Our pediatric Gastro enterology team:
• Ass. Prof Pierre Moawad
• Ass. Prof Maroun Sokhn

Our pediatric endocrinologist :
• Ass. Prof Carole Saba

Our pediatrics hematologists :
• Ass. Prof. Dani Khoury
• Ass. Prof Elie Bechara – Hematologis
• Ass. Prof. Peter Noun

Our Pediatric Surgery team.:
• Prof. Nabil Diab – Pediatric surgeon
• Ass Prof. Reva Matta
• Lara Raffoul

Our Pediatric ORL :
• Ass. Prof. Raja Fakhoury.

Our Pediatric Neuro Surgeon :
• Ass. Prof. Christian Attieh

Our Pediatric Orthopedic Surgery :
• Ass. Prof. Hisham Abdelnour

Our Pediatric Cardiology Team :
• Prof. Charaf Aboucharaf
• Dr Maya Khoury
• Dr Rania Bassile

Our Pediatric Neurology team :
• Ass. Prof. Hicham Mansour
• Ass. Prof. Ghassan Hmaimes

Our Pediatric Infectious disease :
• Dr Souha Ghanem Dbaibo

Our General pediatrician :
• Dr Sara El Yamani Ramadan
• Dr Pia Kiwan Kai

Our pneumology pediatric :
• Dr Sylvana Zoghbi– Pediatric Pulmonologist and Allergist

Our Pediatric anesthesiologist :
• Dr Gaby Melkonian
• Pedodentiste
• Dr Jad Nasr

Our departments also include a dedicated Neonatology and Pediatrics Psychology Care Unit that highlights the human approach that we embrace at ASSAMEH Birth and Beyond, integrating a psychological dimension into our institution.

Whether newborns dealing with abandonment, premature babies, mothers handling separation, or children dealing with the stress of being in a hospital, our team offers the emotional support and guidance needed. In addition to our health care staff, we know the job can take a toll on their emotional state and want to ensure they have the right platform to share their stories.

Our team also includes a group of volunteers who run the Cuddles Volunteer Program. This program is built around the Kangaroo Care Method (KC) and is based on the fact that babies who receive skin to skin contact and cuddles heal faster. Babies who are cuddled often demonstrate greater growth, physiologic stability and have shorter hospital stays than babies who have not been cuddled.

We knew it was essential to integrate a psychological unit as part of our operation, be it for the newborns and children, their families and even our team of dedicated healthcare workers. Needless to say, a personal and often sensitive story accompanies our patients at birth and beyond.

Hospitalization is never easy, especially when it comes to a child. It is necessary to listen to the child, prepare him in words that are suitable to his age and maturity, and help him express his pain when he can’t elaborate his feelings. Art therapy and other artistic activities could be introduced to help the child dream, hope, and hopefully ease his pain and his anxiety.
Parents of hospitalized children could also benefit from a psychological support program so they remain strong and can guide their child through this difficult phase.

ASSAMEH Birth and Beyond has handled very extreme and rare cases throughout the years of operation. To share these case studies with the next generation of doctors, regular conventions are set up with the University of Balamad to discuss, share and learn.

In order for the students to have first hand experience, medical students from the University of Balamand and the Lebanese University visit the hospital on a regular basis to observe the work being done.

In addition, the doctors that operate at the Carlos Slim Center for Children are general surgeons and when in need of specialists there is a partnership with St. Georges Hospital.

Every child is born with not only a physical dependency but a psychological reliance on his environment and his caretakers. Studies show how an early and/or sudden mother-baby separation could affect the child and even cause mental regression and severe symptoms that could progressively develop due to this emotional deprivation. This abandoned child, relies on being loved, touched, spoken to, and held to acquire a sense of existence.

More and more studies reveal the risk of psychological repercussions on preterm babies, such as anxiety disorders, behavior disorders and learning difficulties. All of which reinforce the importance of receiving psychological support during this critical period. This child who embarked on life while flirting with death has to establish a bond between our world and his to evolve. This child should be comforted by a warm voice that helps them focus on something other than the loud machines. As for the parents of these children, working on the mother-child bond is essential. To assist the mother during this premature separation, it is important to respect her pace and let her create a bond with her baby however and whenever she is ready and help her ease the guilt of not being able to take her baby home

We knew it was essential to integrate a psychological unit as part of our operation, be it for the newborns and children, their families and even our team of dedicated healthcare workers. Needless to say, a personal and often sensitive story accompanies our patients at birth and beyond.

ASSAMEH Birth and Beyond, with the support of friends in France, organized a fundraising concert to assist in rebuilding the center following the August 4 blast. The live streamed concert included a lineup of 5 DJ’s from France: The Avener, Bob Sinclar, KUNGS, Polo and Pan, Martin Solveig, Mosimann et FEDER.