Tuesday, June 14, 2022
No Result
View All Result
Asbarez.com
NEWSLETTER
ՀԱՅ
  • Home
  • Top Stories
  • Community
  • Arts & Culture
    • Art
    • Books
    • Music
    • Theatre
    • Critics’ Forum
  • Op-Ed
    • Editorial
    • Opinon
    • Letters
  • Columns
    • By Any Means
    • My Turn
    • Three Apples
    • Community Links
    • Critics’ Forum
    • My Name is Armen
    • Living in Armenia
  • Videos
  • Sports
  • Home
  • Top Stories
  • Community
  • Arts & Culture
    • Art
    • Books
    • Music
    • Theatre
    • Critics’ Forum
  • Op-Ed
    • Editorial
    • Opinon
    • Letters
  • Columns
    • By Any Means
    • My Turn
    • Three Apples
    • Community Links
    • Critics’ Forum
    • My Name is Armen
    • Living in Armenia
  • Videos
  • Sports
No Result
View All Result
Asbarez.com
ՀԱՅ
No Result
View All Result

In Little Armenia, AYF Teams with Local Hospital to Save Lives with Blood Drive

by Asbarez Staff
March 10, 2009
in Haytoug, News
0
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

LITTLE ARMENIA–For 12 hours on Thursday, March 5, the auditorium of Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center was overflowing with activity, as nearly a hundred young Armenia’s poured in throughout the day to join members of the community in donating blood to the American Red Cross.

A single donation of one pint of blood can help save the lives of up to three people. Even though it’s an easy way to make a difference, few people surprisingly donate. This year, the Armenian Youth Federation teamed up with Hollywood Presbyterian, the Red Cross and other community organizations to break that trend, reaching out to volunteers from the Armenian community in an effort to educate, motivate, and activate potential donors.

“The hospital’s outreach to the Little Armenia community led to a natural partnership with the AYF,” explained the organization’s chairman, Vache Thomassian, who spent his day at the hospital helping staff accommodate the large influx of donors answering the AYF’s call to action.

Avo Shanlian, a member of the Pasadena chapter of the AYF, was among the first to arrive on site that day, anxiously waiting for two hours to donate his blood. “Our participation is necessary and required,” he exclaimed when asked why he had taken time out of his day to donate. “I grew up on stories about how the world turned a blind eye to my people as they were being killed in the genocide, now I have an opportunity to save three lives, and I’m taking it.”

“Our community needs to lead by example,” Shanlian stressed. And his chapter did just that; by donating 10 pints of blood to the Red Cross, they saved 30 lives in less than a day.

Throughout the day, AYF members from across southern California helped maintain a steady flow of donors into the hospital’s auditorium, with chapters in Hollywood, Burbank, La Crescenta, Montebello, Orange County, Torrance, Pasadena, and the San Fernando Valley all having joined together to mobilize their respective communities behind the important project.

“The overwhelming response of our membership to this blood-drive shows how concerned the youth is with the well being of our community, Thomassian said. “Hollywood Presbyterian is a vital institution in Little Armenia and as the largest and most active Armenian youth organization in Southern California, we felt it was our responsibility to take part in planning and implementing this blood drive.”

Many of the blood-drive participants shared Thomassian’s sense of responsibility for the community’s well being. Some at the drive even said they were hoping their participation would motivate others to be more active in the community.

Indeed, that turned out to be the case as eleven students from the Hollywood Rose and Alex Pilibos Highschool arrived after school to join the drive. “I heard about the blood drive through the AYF and Little Armenia is my home away from home so it only made sense to come out and participate,” said Vazrig Aprahamian, a senior at Pilibos, who along with his friends, was donating blood for the first time. “It was very gratifying knowing that I saved three lives.”

For Serena Vartazarian, it was particularly inspiring to see “the AYF mobilize so many youth not a part of the organization to participate in an activity that directly affects the lives of so many people in the area.”

By the time Vartazarian arrived, the hospital had received more donors than it could handle. “All of us who had scheduled to go down got text messages saying that they had such a great turnout and that there were so many people, the Red Cross couldn’t handle more. But I decided to go down there and I saw a lot of Armenian youth ready and waiting to donate,” she added. “Most of us waited about 2 hours before we could get in but it was worth it.”

“They overwhelmed us with their support and dedication with boatloads of donors,” exclaimed Caeser Fontanilla of the Red Cross, commenting on how excited he had been all day to see one young Armenian after another donate in support the Red Cross and the community Hospital.

“The AYF was probably the largest contributor to this blood-drive,” he added.

Jay Yoo, the Director of Special Projects at HPMC, was similarly impressed with the large turnout. The Armenian community is an integral part of Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center, he explained, noting its location in the heart of Little Armenia. “The culture of the hospital is very much Armenian, as many of its patients, physicians, staff and employees are Armenia’s.”

“I’m very thankful for the Hospital’s newly established alliance with the AYF and impressed with its leadership. I look forward to working with their 400 or so volunteers in sponsoring the Little Armenia Beautification Project on March 29,” Yoo said. “This is a group of motivated youth with their finger on the pulse of the Armenian community and together we look to make a positive impact on Little Armenia.”

Tags: actionactivityalexallianceAmericanamerican red crossAprahamianareaArmeniaARMENIA--Forarmenian communityarmenian youth federationArts & CultureAuditoriumAvoayfBeautificationbeingblind eyebloodBurbankCaesercallcasecenterChairmanchapterCommunitycommunity organizationscontributorCRESCENTACrossdaydedicationdifferencedirectordonating blooddonationdriveeffortexampleeyeFederationfingerflowFontanillaGenocidegroupheartHighschoolHollywoodhollywood presbyterian medical centerhomehospitalHPMCinfluxinstitutionJay YooldquoleadershipLittleLocationlotMarchMedicalmembermembershipMontebellonatural partnershipopportunityorange countyOrganizationoutreachpartparticipationpartnershipPasadenapasadena chapterPilibospintpint of bloodpints of bloodplanningPresbyterianpresbyterian medical centerprojectpulserdquoRedresponseresponsibilityRoseSan Fernando ValleySchoolseniorsenseSerena VartazarianShanliansiteSouthern Californiastaffsteady flowsupporttextThomassianThursdaytimeTORRANCEtrendturnoutVacheVazrigwaywellworldyearYouth
Asbarez Staff

Asbarez Staff

Next Post

Bi-Partisan Reps. Commend Obama's Record on Genocide Recognition

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recommended

Shahumian’s De-Occupation Remains a Priority for Artsakh

Shahumian’s De-Occupation Remains a Priority for Artsakh

13 hours ago

Board of Regents Condemns Attacks on Armenian Schools’ Integrity, Commitment to Homeland

13 hours ago

Connect with us

  • About
  • Advertising
  • Subscribe
  • Contact

© 2021 Asbarez | All Rights Reserved | Powered By MSDN Solutions Inc.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Top Stories
  • Community
  • Arts & Culture
    • Art
    • Books
    • Music
    • Theatre
    • Critics’ Forum
  • Op-Ed
    • Editorial
    • Opinon
    • Letters
  • Columns
    • By Any Means
    • My Turn
    • Three Apples
    • Community Links
    • Critics’ Forum
    • My Name is Armen
    • Living in Armenia
  • Videos
  • Sports

© 2021 Asbarez | All Rights Reserved | Powered By MSDN Solutions Inc.

Accessibility

Accessibility modes

Epilepsy Safe Mode
Dampens color and removes blinks
This mode enables people with epilepsy to use the website safely by eliminating the risk of seizures that result from flashing or blinking animations and risky color combinations.
Visually Impaired Mode
Improves website's visuals
This mode adjusts the website for the convenience of users with visual impairments such as Degrading Eyesight, Tunnel Vision, Cataract, Glaucoma, and others.
Cognitive Disability Mode
Helps to focus on specific content
This mode provides different assistive options to help users with cognitive impairments such as Dyslexia, Autism, CVA, and others, to focus on the essential elements of the website more easily.
ADHD Friendly Mode
Reduces distractions and improve focus
This mode helps users with ADHD and Neurodevelopmental disorders to read, browse, and focus on the main website elements more easily while significantly reducing distractions.
Blindness Mode
Allows using the site with your screen-reader
This mode configures the website to be compatible with screen-readers such as JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver, and TalkBack. A screen-reader is software for blind users that is installed on a computer and smartphone, and websites must be compatible with it.

Online Dictionary

    Readable Experience

    Content Scaling
    Default
    Text Magnifier
    Readable Font
    Dyslexia Friendly
    Highlight Titles
    Highlight Links
    Font Sizing
    Default
    Line Height
    Default
    Letter Spacing
    Default
    Left Aligned
    Center Aligned
    Right Aligned

    Visually Pleasing Experience

    Dark Contrast
    Light Contrast
    Monochrome
    High Contrast
    High Saturation
    Low Saturation
    Adjust Text Colors
    Adjust Title Colors
    Adjust Background Colors

    Easy Orientation

    Mute Sounds
    Hide Images
    Virtual Keyboard
    Reading Guide
    Stop Animations
    Reading Mask
    Highlight Hover
    Highlight Focus
    Big Dark Cursor
    Big Light Cursor
    Navigation Keys

    Asbarez.com Accessibility Statement

    Accessibility Statement

    • asbarez.com
    • June 14, 2022

    Compliance status

    We firmly believe that the internet should be available and accessible to anyone, and are committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of circumstance and ability.

    To fulfill this, we aim to adhere as strictly as possible to the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG 2.1) at the AA level. These guidelines explain how to make web content accessible to people with a wide array of disabilities. Complying with those guidelines helps us ensure that the website is accessible to all people: blind people, people with motor impairments, visual impairment, cognitive disabilities, and more.

    This website utilizes various technologies that are meant to make it as accessible as possible at all times. We utilize an accessibility interface that allows persons with specific disabilities to adjust the website’s UI (user interface) and design it to their personal needs.

    Additionally, the website utilizes an AI-based application that runs in the background and optimizes its accessibility level constantly. This application remediates the website’s HTML, adapts Its functionality and behavior for screen-readers used by the blind users, and for keyboard functions used by individuals with motor impairments.

    If you’ve found a malfunction or have ideas for improvement, we’ll be happy to hear from you. You can reach out to the website’s operators by using the following email

    Screen-reader and keyboard navigation

    Our website implements the ARIA attributes (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) technique, alongside various different behavioral changes, to ensure blind users visiting with screen-readers are able to read, comprehend, and enjoy the website’s functions. As soon as a user with a screen-reader enters your site, they immediately receive a prompt to enter the Screen-Reader Profile so they can browse and operate your site effectively. Here’s how our website covers some of the most important screen-reader requirements, alongside console screenshots of code examples:

    1. Screen-reader optimization: we run a background process that learns the website’s components from top to bottom, to ensure ongoing compliance even when updating the website. In this process, we provide screen-readers with meaningful data using the ARIA set of attributes. For example, we provide accurate form labels; descriptions for actionable icons (social media icons, search icons, cart icons, etc.); validation guidance for form inputs; element roles such as buttons, menus, modal dialogues (popups), and others. Additionally, the background process scans all of the website’s images and provides an accurate and meaningful image-object-recognition-based description as an ALT (alternate text) tag for images that are not described. It will also extract texts that are embedded within the image, using an OCR (optical character recognition) technology. To turn on screen-reader adjustments at any time, users need only to press the Alt+1 keyboard combination. Screen-reader users also get automatic announcements to turn the Screen-reader mode on as soon as they enter the website.

      These adjustments are compatible with all popular screen readers, including JAWS and NVDA.

    2. Keyboard navigation optimization: The background process also adjusts the website’s HTML, and adds various behaviors using JavaScript code to make the website operable by the keyboard. This includes the ability to navigate the website using the Tab and Shift+Tab keys, operate dropdowns with the arrow keys, close them with Esc, trigger buttons and links using the Enter key, navigate between radio and checkbox elements using the arrow keys, and fill them in with the Spacebar or Enter key.Additionally, keyboard users will find quick-navigation and content-skip menus, available at any time by clicking Alt+1, or as the first elements of the site while navigating with the keyboard. The background process also handles triggered popups by moving the keyboard focus towards them as soon as they appear, and not allow the focus drift outside of it.

      Users can also use shortcuts such as “M” (menus), “H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific elements.

    Disability profiles supported in our website

    • Epilepsy Safe Mode: this profile enables people with epilepsy to use the website safely by eliminating the risk of seizures that result from flashing or blinking animations and risky color combinations.
    • Visually Impaired Mode: this mode adjusts the website for the convenience of users with visual impairments such as Degrading Eyesight, Tunnel Vision, Cataract, Glaucoma, and others.
    • Cognitive Disability Mode: this mode provides different assistive options to help users with cognitive impairments such as Dyslexia, Autism, CVA, and others, to focus on the essential elements of the website more easily.
    • ADHD Friendly Mode: this mode helps users with ADHD and Neurodevelopmental disorders to read, browse, and focus on the main website elements more easily while significantly reducing distractions.
    • Blindness Mode: this mode configures the website to be compatible with screen-readers such as JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver, and TalkBack. A screen-reader is software for blind users that is installed on a computer and smartphone, and websites must be compatible with it.
    • Keyboard Navigation Profile (Motor-Impaired): this profile enables motor-impaired persons to operate the website using the keyboard Tab, Shift+Tab, and the Enter keys. Users can also use shortcuts such as “M” (menus), “H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific elements.

    Additional UI, design, and readability adjustments

    1. Font adjustments – users, can increase and decrease its size, change its family (type), adjust the spacing, alignment, line height, and more.
    2. Color adjustments – users can select various color contrast profiles such as light, dark, inverted, and monochrome. Additionally, users can swap color schemes of titles, texts, and backgrounds, with over 7 different coloring options.
    3. Animations – epileptic users can stop all running animations with the click of a button. Animations controlled by the interface include videos, GIFs, and CSS flashing transitions.
    4. Content highlighting – users can choose to emphasize important elements such as links and titles. They can also choose to highlight focused or hovered elements only.
    5. Audio muting – users with hearing devices may experience headaches or other issues due to automatic audio playing. This option lets users mute the entire website instantly.
    6. Cognitive disorders – we utilize a search engine that is linked to Wikipedia and Wiktionary, allowing people with cognitive disorders to decipher meanings of phrases, initials, slang, and others.
    7. Additional functions – we provide users the option to change cursor color and size, use a printing mode, enable a virtual keyboard, and many other functions.

    Browser and assistive technology compatibility

    We aim to support the widest array of browsers and assistive technologies as possible, so our users can choose the best fitting tools for them, with as few limitations as possible. Therefore, we have worked very hard to be able to support all major systems that comprise over 95% of the user market share including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Opera and Microsoft Edge, JAWS and NVDA (screen readers), both for Windows and for MAC users.

    Notes, comments, and feedback

    Despite our very best efforts to allow anybody to adjust the website to their needs, there may still be pages or sections that are not fully accessible, are in the process of becoming accessible, or are lacking an adequate technological solution to make them accessible. Still, we are continually improving our accessibility, adding, updating and improving its options and features, and developing and adopting new technologies. All this is meant to reach the optimal level of accessibility, following technological advancements. For any assistance, please reach out to