Satik Isahakyan, a Public Radio reporter from Armavir, recalls how she used to stop her niece’s nosebleeds. “I asked her to tilt her head back and packed her nose with tampons…It was not effective at all. Here is the right way to do it: you should lean forward, pinch your nose and place a cold pack over your forehead and the back of your head.”
Satik learned to stop a nosebleed at the COAF seminar called Journalists as Active Members of Healthy Communities. She states that the seminar has been extremely useful, “It was very interactive and lively. We learned about first aid, early detection and treatment of cancer, as well as other topics… And it was not just about lecturing – there were lots of mannequin demonstrations and educational materials.”
Ani Rapyan from Yerkir Media TV company says, laughingly, that she has learned the right way to clean the toothbrush. “Actually, you should not use your fingers to clean the brush after using it. To wash the toothpaste off the brush, you should rinse it with hot tap water instead.”
Satik and Ani were among the 29 COAF seminar participants. All of them were journalists working in 4 regions of Armenia and Yerevan. The seminar was run by Lusine Sahakyan and Lusine Antonyan, COAF Health Subprogram Managers. They covered such topics as oral hygiene, chronic diseases, cancer diagnosis and treatment, child safety, first aid, aiming at raising journalists’ awareness of health issues. Healthy lifestyle promotion and physical activities were also a part of the seminar agenda.
“Armenian journalists are very much interested in health issues,” Lusine Antonyan said. “It is extremely important for reporters to have comprehensive knowledge of such topics.”
Lusine Sahakyan mentions that working with journalists has been easier than expected, “They are not from the public health sphere, but they were very well informed. All of them kept asking tough questions and taking part in discussions.”
And the discussions were spirited. “There are some clichés and myths formed around several topics,” the participants say. “In particular, there are lots of misconceptions about cancer diagnosis and treatment. We are very thankful to the COAF health team for filling in the gap. And we would like to take part in more training sessions like this one.”
