The legend of Dracula lives on...
AO members from 19 countries met from June 22-25, 2009 for AO Courses at
Sinaia, one of the most famous and oldest mountain tourist resorts in Romania,
also known as The Carpathian Pearl. Sinaia, 120 kms from Bucharest, takes its
name from the 17th-century monastery built by a Romanian nobleman after
undertaking a pilgrimage to Mount Sinai, Egypt and is best known as the summer
residence of the Romanian Royal family. Officially documented, for the first
time, around the year 1200, its position in the valley connecting Muntenia — in
southern Romania — with Transylvania, made Sinaia an important village in olden
times.
Of course everybody has heard the legend of Dracula and Bran Castle —
considered to be Dracula’s castle — is just 60 kms away. The Carpathian
mountains, also called the Transylvanian Alps because of their altitude and
their wonderful landscapes, are a place of great beauty with their evergreen
forests and alpine plateaus. However, Mirca Popescu showed us in a short
presentation, at the beginning of the faculty meeting, that Romania is not only
about Dracula but also it is a country blessed with beautiful scenery and a
population who are commited to both science and being good hosts.
Professor Endre Varga of Hungary, president of the AO MID Executive Council,
remarked as overall chairman, on the ease with which participants worked and
learned together during the event, confirming for the second time this year the
strength of the AO family in Central Europe. Hosted by the Romanian AO Alumni
Chapter, the AO MID Regional Courses featured both regional faculty and
international faculty, including Piet de Boer, Christian Kammenlader and
Michael Nerlich. The shared and comprehensive faculty force allowed us to run
the different courses according to the different levels,
The young participants in the Principles Course (chaired by Jarek Brudnicki
and Matej Kastelec) were privileged to receive a first rate, face-to-face
education with practicals, detailed lectures and basic discussion cases. The
Advances Course (chaired by Endre Varga and Yalim Ates) was based on case
discussions, case-based interactive program and debates and also included a
special geriatric afternoon chaired by Steve Velkes with great international
and regional experts. More than 90 percent of the Advances Course audience
believed this afternoon to be particularly important and useful.
The faculty and participating surgeons were all members of the AO family and
regularly deal with trauma patients. They put aside their differences and
worked side-by-side, teaching and learning from each other with the shared aim
of improving their surgical knowledge and technical skills in order to do their
jobs better and better. It was very good to see my colleagues working at the
same practical table and helping each other, from Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia,
from Greece and Turkey, from Romania and Hungary and from Russia and Georgia.
Later, we all sat together during the evening banquet in a wonderful evening,
with outstanding performance by a local pantomime team and band organized by
our great Romanian hosts.
The last evening banquette was organized nearby at the Peles Castle, which
is the most interesting place to visit in Sinaia. This is one of the
best-preserved royal palaces in Europe. It served as the summer residence of
the first Hohenzollern king of Romania, Carol I. Built in the latter half of
the 19th century, it was the king's attempt to imitate the styles of
his former homeland, creating a Bavarian setting in the mountains of Romania.
The palace interior and the exterior is ornately decorated with intricate wood
carvings and paintings of scenes from Wagner operas.
Immediately following the courses, the AO MID Educational Committee gathered
again to analyse participant feedback, which will be studied, compared with
earlier course feedback and incorporated before the next MID Regional
Educational Committee meeting, scheduled for September in Hungary.
I honestly hope that this marvellous event in Sinaia reinforced once again
that we, in the AO MID Region, have been able to bring together a wide range of
enthusiastic surgeons who are able to work together toward common AO aims.
Course report compiled by: Prof Endre Varga
