Ever since the Arab Spring in 2011, the Middle Eastern country of Syria has been in a near-constant state of civil war. As a result, residents there rely heavily on aid workers from non-governmental organizations for medical care. And the president of one of those NGOs, the Syrian American Medical Society, lives right here in Fresno.
Credit Syrian American Medical Society
Dr. Ahmad Tarakji, a cardiovascular surgeon with Kaiser Permanente, recently returned from a mission to the northwest part of the country, to the disputed cities of Aleppo and Idlib. Listen to the interview above for more on how doctors care for the medical needs of this sensitive region - and how he copes with seeing his own home city, Aleppo, ravaged by war.