2 CSULB professors, who are brothers, provide virtual health care to Iranian protesters - Long Beach Press Telegram

A young woman’s look appeared connected a video telephone 1 time past month. Her oculus was injured. And, she said, her caput and cervix were besides injured – aft being deed by a baton.

She’s 21 years aged and was excessively acrophobic to sojourn a hospital.

Her injuries, aft all, were the effect of marching for women’s rights connected the streets of Iran. The young woman, whose sanction was not disclosed to support her anonymity, is 1 of thousands of Iranian protesters who person taken to the streets since the decease of Mahsa Amini astatine the hands of the theocratic nation’s morality police.

Fearing a infirmary would study her to the authorities, the young pistillate with the eye, caput and cervix injuries saw her doctors virtually. For the adjacent 10 days, she received carnal and intelligence wellness services from doctors who talk Farsi and recognize her civilization – but unrecorded successful Southern California.

Those doctors are brothers Kamiar and Arash Alaei, Iranian natives who are besides professors astatine Cal State Long Beach. The brothers person responded to the protests successful their homeland – astir 7,700 miles from Southern California – by offering virtual aesculapian assistance to those warring for greater freedoms.

But it’s not conscionable them.

The Alaei brothers person created a conjugation of aesculapian professionals called the Medical Alliance for Health Services Abroad, oregon MAHSA – successful grant of Mahsa Amini. The conjugation has much than 120 progressive members, offering escaped telemedicine services astatine slightest 16 hours a time to assistance negociate the clip differences betwixt Iran and different parts of the world.

Such attraction is captious because, the Alaei brothers said successful caller interviews, visiting section hospitals and clinics tin get Iranian protesters arrested.

“It’s decidedly important however we tin assistance radical wrong Iran,” said Kamiar Alaei, who is the seat of CSULB’s wellness subject department, “and I deliberation everybody tin assistance successful immoderate capableness to beryllium the dependable of the voiceless.”

The MAHSA coalition’s ngo is to assistance those warring against a authorities that, according to quality rights organizations, lacks the types of freedoms Americans bask and sometimes instrumentality for granted. In that way, the coalition’s enactment besides illustrates the mode exertion tin summation entree to wellness attraction globally.

“We often speech astir integer wellness arsenic a broader radical of services that tin beryllium provided done technology,” said Dr. Adam Solomon, main aesculapian serviceman for the MemorialCare Medical Foundation.

“Telemedicine would beryllium a subset of that,” Solomon added, “because typically erstwhile idiosyncratic thinks of telemedicine it is the quality to spot and beryllium evaluated by a clinician done either a video sojourn oregon perchance a telephone visit.”

And for the Alaei brothers specifically, offering telehealth services to Iranian protesters represents their ain signifier of resistance.

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The Alaei brothers are expats – or, possibly much accurately, exiles.

They grew up successful Kermanshah, a metropolis astir 325 miles westbound of Tehran that present boasts a colonisation of astir 1 cardinal people.

They learned lessons astir helping others from their father, Shaban.

And arsenic children, they saw teens and young adults spell to school, use to universities, postgraduate – and they instrumentality to assistance their community.

But that was earlier the Iranian Revolution of 1979, erstwhile a theocratic authorities took implicit and isolated the culturally vibrant state from overmuch of the world.

Arash Alaei, who is present 53, was astir 10 erstwhile the shah was exiled and the Iranian Republic took hold. Kamiar Alaei, present 48, was astir 5.

But the takeover didn’t halt the brothers from being inspired by their compatriots – oregon from being motivated by the societal ills they saw.

During their formative years, successful the 1980s, they witnessed however doctors helped radical during the warfare betwixt Iraq and Iran.

The favoritism they witnessed, including against those with HIV/AIDS, further motivated the brothers to spell to aesculapian schoolhouse and go doctors.

Today, the odor of the seasons successful Kermanshah remains an indelible representation of location for the elder Alaei brother. But the needs of his chap Iranians, which inspired some brothers to privation to bash more, remains an arsenic indelible, though acold little fond, memory.

Kamiar and Arash Alaei some graduated from aesculapian schoolhouse successful their precocious 20s.

Then, successful the 2000s, the Alaei brothers established the archetypal broad “triangular clinic” for 3 people groups successful Iran – cause users, HIV/AIDS patients and those with different sexually transmitted diseases.

They established the session during a clip erstwhile those groups were being specifically targeted by governments successful the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia. (In galore places, specified targeting continues.) Kamiar and Arash Alaei had to larn to navigate the challenges of providing wellness attraction to radical the Iranian authorities tried to oppress, they said.

Alcohol and cause usage are amerciable successful Iran, arsenic is homosexuality, and punishments are often severe, including agelong situation sentences and execution, according to the U.S. State Department.

That stigma and illegality, arsenic wellness experts person often said astir anti-LGBTQ laws successful the U.S., often forestall radical from seeking aesculapian attention.

The Alaei brothers’ enactment via their session was truthful important, the elder sibling said, that the World Health Organization documented it arsenic a “best signifier model.”

“We tried to prosecute communities and place immoderate of the much open-minded leaders successful the community,” Kamiar Alaei said, “and find our shared values – that is, redeeming somebody’s life.”

But the brothers yet drew the attraction of the Iranian government.

In June 2008, the brothers were detained successful Tehran’s Evin Prison, they said. They were accused of being progressive successful a conspiracy to overthrow the Iranian authorities due to the fact that of their enactment with the clinic.

The younger Alaei member stayed successful situation for much than 2 years, until December 2010 – portion Arash Alaei wasn’t released until August 2011.

“We didn’t cognize what was going connected outside,” Arash Alaei said, “but erstwhile we had an accidental to speech to our parents, we recovered thousands of American and European radical had sent letters to our parents to say, ‘We are with you.’”

The brothers were expelled from Iran – and aren’t allowed back.

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We effort to beryllium advocates whenever determination is simply a need.

– Kamiar Alaei

Their experiences successful Iran, though, supply the brothers with peculiar penetration into the dangers protesters determination face.

Iran has dealt with sporadic anti-government protests since the 1979 coup. But they person typically been enactment down swiftly and harshly.

The existent protests, however, person not been casual to extinguish.

Iranians began taking to the streets by the thousands aft the Sept. 16 decease of Amini, a 22-year-old pistillate who was initially detained by the country’s morality police, which accused her of wearing her headscarf excessively loosely, according to a United Nations statement. She died portion successful the hospital.

Her household and protesters accidental her assemblage showed bruises and different signs of beating aft she was detained. Iran’s authorities insists Amini was not mistreated.

The protesters, meanwhile, person faced a bloody effect from the government. Hundreds person been killed. And others person been sentenced to agelong situation presumption oregon execution successful “sham trials,” the State Department said successful a Wednesday, Dec. 21, property merchandise successful which the bureau announced sanctions against Iran.

“The Iranian authorities has responded with ruthless crackdowns connected peaceful protesters successful an effort to suppress the Iranian people’s voices,” the property merchandise from Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s bureau said. “Iranian authorities person killed hundreds of peaceful protesters, including dozens of children, and arbitrarily detained thousands.”

The unit the authorities person utilized against the protesters didn’t astonishment the Alaei brothers. But they knew they had to help, truthful they started moving to supply telemedicine from afar.

“We effort to beryllium advocates whenever determination is simply a need,” Kamiar Alaei said.

They mobilized different doctors to assistance supply telemedicine to protesters, and received assistance from Physicians for Human Rights and different organizations.

Protesters person been changeable and beaten, Arash Alaei said, and “a fig of radical study teardrop state and antithetic harms against radical successful the streets.”

Iranian demonstrators are acrophobic to spell to section hospitals and clinics erstwhile injured, added Arash Alaei, who is besides the manager of the Institute for International Health and Education, a planetary nonprofit that designs and implements planetary acquisition strategies and programme services.

And rightfully so. That’s due to the fact that if they look for aesculapian assistance, the institutions are required to study to the Iranian government, helium said.

“There are immoderate doctors successful Iran that effort to supply immoderate aesculapian support,” Kamiar Alaei said, “but still, determination is simply a wide fear.”

Protesters, then, indispensable question assistance from those successful different countries – via telemedicine.

Offering that work is simply a mode for the brothers to assistance their compatriots and those successful different Middle Eastern countries – adjacent portion incapable to instrumentality to their autochthonal Iran.

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A representation obtained by AFP extracurricular Iran connected Sept. 21, 2022, shows Iranian demonstrators taking to the streets of the superior Tehran during a protestation for Mahsa Amini, days aft she died successful constabulary custody. (AFP/Getty Images/TNS)

Recently, the Alaei brothers encountered – virtually, of people – a 28-year-old antheral who had been changeable successful the oculus with a rubber bullet.

An ophthalmologist with MAHSA helped the antheral fig retired whether helium needed large surgery. But getting surgery, if necessary, wouldn’t beryllium easy.

Luckily, MAHSA helps with that too.

MAHSA, successful immoderate ways, acts similar a aesculapian underground railroad, providing protesters with section hospitals and doctors that are harmless for them to sojourn erstwhile necessary.

The doctors wrong Iran, Arash Alaei said, are taking a hazard if they effort to assistance protesters. Some are arrested and banned from hospitals, helium said.

And so, Kamiar Alaei said, doctors elsewhere indispensable besides advocator for Iranian physicians. The Alaei brothers, successful fact, person a petition to bring consciousness of the challenges Iranian doctors look to the United Nations. The petition presently has 60 doc signatures and astir 4,000 different signatures, arsenic of Friday afternoon, Dec. 23.

But moving straight with patients is the brothers’ superior ngo – a ngo made imaginable due to the fact that of technology.

As such, MAHSA’s operations are besides instructive. Telemedicine, aft all, isn’t indispensable lone successful the discourse of uprisings against oppressive regimes.

Rural parts of the United States, for example, whitethorn not person arsenic casual entree to subspecialists – specified arsenic a pediatric cardiologist oregon a hematologist – arsenic municipality areas, said Solomon, the doc with the MemorialCare Medical Foundation.

But with these virtual tools, it’s easier to supply wellness attraction entree broadly passim a state, Solomon said.

“Potentially, this tin besides supply that enactment and work to other, poorer countries,” helium added. “The large hurdle determination would beryllium the exertion to person entree to broadband services, which adjacent successful this state is (not assured).”

But astatine slightest successful the U.S., there’s nary fearfulness that the authorities volition way down those who person virtual aesculapian attention.

That’s not the lawsuit successful Iran.

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Dr. Kamiar Alaei, seat of the Health Science Department, left, and his brother, Dr. Arash Alaei, besides a module member, connected Friday, Oct. 21, 2022, astatine Cal State Long Beach. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)

In past decades, determination wasn’t overmuch expat doctors could bash to assistance their chap Iranians.

But that’s not existent today.

“Doctors utilized to question to antithetic countries, but present we tin bash it remotely,” Arash Alaei said. “That’s the quality of telemedicine.”

Beyond diagnosing folks, doctors tin usage virtual wellness attraction to stock acquisition worldly oregon basal aesculapian accusation with protesters, including however to support themselves and minimize injuries.

There were challenges, however, including getting the connection retired and helping protesters portion ensuring their safety.

The brothers solved the archetypal occupation by putting retired an advertisement connected Iranian outer tv and connected their societal media pages explaining what they bash and however to scope them for help. To beryllium capable to link and physique spot with aboriginal patients, they besides started making videos to amusement who was down the virtual help.

As a result, the brothers said, messages started flooding in.

But there’s a hazard successful helping people.

“The net velocity is not high,” Arash Alaei said, “and the authorities controls the internet.”

For now, the brothers person a designated compartment telephone they usage for calls and video consultations.

But they are unsure however agelong that volition last. So Arash Alaei is asking radical that enactment successful exertion to find a solution and is looking for a mode to get a toll-free number.

Then there’s the request to support patients’ identities.

One mode MAHSA doctors bash truthful is by not asking excessively galore questions.

They bash inquire astir a person’s intelligence wellness and immoderate contiguous injuries that should get checked out.

But mostly, they listen. They fto demonstrators stock their challenges, Arash Alaei said – due to the fact that that’s the champion mode to larn astir their circumstantial situations and needs.

“We don’t privation to enactment them successful immoderate challenging situations,” Arash Alaei said, “so we don’t inquire astir their sanction and address. We don’t privation to place them, to guarantee them they are successful a harmless environment.”

The astir communal injuries the brothers see, they said, are to the eyes, lips, head, cervix and shoulders.

“It’s not conscionable 1 visit,” Arash Alaei said.

Rather, each lawsuit includes a bid of visits from the Alaei brothers oregon 1 of the 100 different doctors and specialists that assistance with the one-on-one consultations.

The brothers, though, besides said Iranians request much assistance from the planetary community.

“We are blessed to person this accidental but it’s not capable to person a radical of people,” Arash Alaei said. “We request to person planetary enactment to supply services and usage telemedicine arsenic a level to summation entree for everyone astir the satellite to high-quality services.”

And, the brothers said, the request for virtual medicine successful Iran volition apt proceed agelong aft the protests extremity – nary substance the outcome.

For now, however, the CSULB professors volition support doing what they can.

They volition perceive arsenic a 21-year-old pistillate describes her injuries from a baton. They volition counsel a 28-year-old antheral who was deed successful the oculus with a rubber bullet.

They volition assistance immoderate different protester who comes to them.

That’s due to the fact that adjacent arsenic exiles, they are with their chap Iranians – who are warring for state 7,700 miles away.