US Medical Donation Restores Hearing for Hundreds of Balti Veterans
Dr. Gregory James Spirakis, an audiologist from Lakeland, Florida, arrived in Chisinau on October 8, 2005 bearing 215 new hearing aids and supplies valued at $250,000 for Moldova’s World War II veterans.
In a formal ceremony on October 10, Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin presented Dr. Spirakis with the Civic Merit medal in appreciation for his outstanding efforts to develop Moldovan-American relations in the field of health care and for his continuing support for social and humanitarian activities.
The medical equipment, donated by US-based companies Siemens Hearing Instruments, Inc. and Starkey Laboratories, Inc., was secured by Dr. Spirakis in response to a request made earlier this year by Balti Mayor Vasily Panciuc on behalf of President Voronin.
On October 14, Mayor Panciuc was joined by local residents as Dr. Spirakis presented the donated medical equipment to Dr. Iurii Lobeev, Clinic Director of the Hearing Protection Center in Balti. Dr. Spirakis will remain in Balti to personally fit the veterans.
“It is an honor and privilege to work with veterans of the Second World War, and we look forward to continuing this support for many years into the future,” says Dr. Spirakis.
A US citizen, Dr. Spirakis received the USAID Outstanding Citizen Achievement Citation in 2003 for spearheading a community-based humanitarian campaign to provide medical services for the hearing-impaired in Balti. For the past 8 years, Dr. Spirakis and his wife, Dr. Susan Spirakis, have traveled to Moldova offering free treatment for children, inspiring many other American medical professionals to join him. In 2002, they established the state-of-the-art Hearing Protection Center in Balti with financial and technical support he had secured with the assistance of USAID, the US State Department, Counterpart International, Sister Cities International and the Lakeland Sertoma Club. Since opening, the Center—Moldova’s first nonprofit, freestanding audiology clinic—has expanded it services to include hearing and medical services for newborns, children, veterans and elderly persons in Balti and neighboring areas. Dr. Spirakis has also been instrumental in building a Sister Cities relationship between his hometown of Lakeland and the city of Balti which has fostered numerous other grassroots, cross-cultural development projects.
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| Moldovan Presidents Vladimir Voronin presents Florida audiologist Dr. Gregory Spirakis with the Civic Merit medal in recognition of his humanitarian efforts. |
Dr. Spirakis and USAID's Brock D. Bierman (second from left) with Drs. Victor and Aliona Vrabie--a husband and wife team that work at the Balti hearing clinic Spirakis co-founded. |
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| Local World War II hero Peter Voinov (left) was among the many combat-wounded Moldovan veterans fitted with new hearing aids by Dr. Spirakis (right). |
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