GOLD is a humanitarian student-led initiative at the AUB Faculty of Medicine targeting the older adults’ population in Lebanon. Through both its medical and social divisions, GOLD aims to improve the health and wellbeing of our seniors, focusing on the underprivileged among them. It aims to make high quality healthcare accessible to one of the most vulnerable and neglected populations in Lebanon. Projects include a free-of-charge primary healthcare clinic (medical division) and an intergenerational learning program (social division).
Objectives
- Improve the health and quality of life of underserved older adults in Lebanon.
- Offer healthcare professionals an opportunity to volunteer and serve the community.
- Offer students and residents an opportunity to learn and work alongside multidisciplinary teams.
- Create a platform for conducting research in geriatrics and topics related to older adults.
- Advocate for older persons’ rights and spread awareness about topics related to their health.
Highlights
- Winning project by the OMDI Program launched by the French Embassy and the French Institute of Lebanon with Makesense, after a rigorous selection process, among 239 applicant-projects from all around Lebanon!
- In a very short period of time, GOLD became one of the largest and most active and impactful student organizations at AUB!
- Clinics taking place every week and teams working every day!
- More than 200 dedicated volunteers of students and residents!
- Operating under the supervision of licensed physicians and faculty advisors!
- Remained open since January 2020 despite the challenges and hard times our country was and is going through!
- Great feedback from patients, students, residents and physicians!
- Completely relying on donations and fundraising activities!
Medical Division: The GOLD Clinic
The GOLD Clinic is a student-led free-of-charge clinic serving the underprivileged older adults in Lebanon. It was launched in January 2020 and takes place every Friday in the Sawwaf Building at AUBMC. The clinic is based in the Family Medicine department and is collaborating with the departments of Psychiatry, Internal Medicine and Surgery at AUBMC.
The clinic provides a wide range of completely free-of-charge healthcare services including: primary care visits, referrals to specialty clinics (Cardiology, Ophthalmology, Surgery…), medications, laboratory tests, imaging studies, health awareness/education and psychological support/interventions for this very vulnerable population.
The clinic remained open to welcome the disadvantaged needy seniors since its launch in January 2020 despite the challenges and the hard times our country was and is going through. We rely completely on donations and fundraising activities to support our patients with the above-mentioned services. Patients are referred from local collaborating NGOs that make sure patients are in significant financial need; namely Ajialouna, Beit-El-Baraka and AUB Neighborhood Initiative.
The clinic also serves as an opportunity for volunteering students and residents to develop their clinical experiences and serve their community. We currently have more than 200 volunteering medical students and residents distributed between the different teams, operating under the supervision of attending physicians and faculty advisors.
Social Division: The GOLD Intergenerational Learning Program
On the social level, GOLD seeks to overcome age discrimination and strives to challenge the stereotypical views of society about older adults by engaging them in interactive experiences, sharing their stories and enriching their influential roles. In addition to regular visits to seniors’ centers across the country and spreading awareness on different platforms, GOLD organizes events and activities serving these goals. The first of these events took place in early December 2019 under the name of Minimaxi.
‘Mini-Maxi’ was successfully the first of its kind event in Lebanon. It served as an intergenerational learning event where older adults and toddlers spent time together and participated in group activities. The event was presented in collaboration with Dent De Lait children's daycare and Moakidiyeh seniors' center.
Media Coverage
In addition to active social media pages, GOLD had several appearances on Lebanese media platforms including an interview on Lebanon’s Television (TL), a press article and a reportage on Lebanon24 news website. You can find these in the links below: