Foundation Projects Overseas
Crossing Cultures to Improve Quality of Life
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From very early on in professional life, Reza made the United States his home, and quickly become an U.S. citizen. And his years of successful surgical practice in the operating room and as a hospital administrator provided the financial resources that has also supported quality-fof-life project overseas.
In Iran, Reza and Georgie initiated and maintain their Foundation’s projects in the Holy City of Mashhad, Reza’s birthplace, for Mashhad was also the origin of Reza’s dedication to medicine from the age of ten. He was born to a religious family in October of 1930 and when still a boy, Reza’s father, a very open-minded Clergyman to Mashhad’s prestigious Goharshad Mosque. Reza’s childhood, primary schooling and high school education were all in Mashhad. Their projects further demonstrated their strong commitment to people of all faiths.
The Mashhad School and Clinic for the Indigent
Mashhad is a holy city due to its nature as the burial place of the Eighth Iman of the Shia Muslim faith, and it receives over 25 million pilgrims each year, many sick and indigent. Their plight kindled Reza’s desire to ease their suffering with free medical assistance and reassuring financial support, and that support has continued down through the years, closely coordinated with United States Department of State requirements.
Clinic for Children and the Indigent, and later overseas projects through careful coordination with both United States and Iranian governments, with extended family members and medical communities on both sides of the Atlantic. Since 2006 the Mashhad’s Clinic Dr. Seyed Reza Khatib Charity Foundation has offered services to indigent persons, pilgrims and children in need. Today the Mashhad Clinic for Children and the Indigent enjoys the cooperation and support of more than 25 physicians and paramedics and has been wonderfully successful in presenting valued services to poor patients who were the pilgrims of Imam Reza (peace be upon him) or residents of Mashhad also under the good doctor’s guidance.
The clinic’s physicians and general practitioners often make themselves available during both morning and evening shifts. The patients referred are examined by the general practitioners and if needed can receive referrals to different specialists and to other medical centers that are contracted by the Foundation. Paramedical and other services and necessary actions will be done at the Charity Foundation’s account. The many professionals in service include pediatricians, cardiologists, obstetricians, gynecologists, general surgeons, ENT specialists, nephrologists, neurologists, ophthalmologists, and dentists
Iran’s First Hospice
Reza and Georgie founded Iran’s first hospice facility with the help of family members living in Mashhad. It now adjoins the Khatib Clinic and School for the Indigent. Plans provide for the support of both projects, hospital and hospice, in perpetuity. Both stand near the Eighth Imam shrine for pilgrims and indigents in Mashhad.
Hospice Care is paliative in nature. The primary mission is always to ease pain and suffering for patient and family as long as some quality of life remains. The hospice helps in managing of a patient’s symptoms, coordinating end-of-life care, and enhancing communications and decision making on behalf of patients and their families.
Family & Friends in America
Reza and Georgie knew that newcomers who bring their talents and aspirations to America remain one of the nation’s greatest strengths. They have always encouraged, even in troubled times, the coming-to-America of those believing in the American dream and seeking a better life. Many Khatib friends and family members have been instrumental in the overseas projects, and several members of the Khatib extended family have settled in the United States. Some serve as trustees to the Khatib Foundation. All work to contribute to American life in fields that include health care, computer sciences, education, thermodynamics, civil engineering, biophysics, architecture, transportation, structural design, and urban planning.