But even when the artillery will go silent and peace will come, a lot of Ukrainians will continue their personal struggle. A life-long struggle. These are civilians and military people who were gravely injured, lost limbs, were severely burnt, concussed, have suffered serious organ damage. These are hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians who are now in need of urgent surgeries and will require rehabilitation, medical care, social and psychological adaptation after the war. They have not broken down and are ready to fight for their lives. And our duty is to help them remain unbroken.
No country in the world was ready for the challenges like these. After all, we lived in Europe by the “Never again!” slogan and no one believed that the monstrous atrocities of war would come to our land AGAIN.
Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Lviv has become a huge humanitarian hub. The city has welcomed more than 5 million Ukrainians who left behind their homes to flee the war. Women and children, elderly people and hospital patients. The city is treating thousands of wounded. Many of them will not be able to return to their hometowns for a long time.
Lviv’s First Territorial Medical Association has become the key place where the victims are taken care of. Our doctors are fighting their own war and performing their own feats, fighting for the life and health of each and every patient. We are aware that we need to increase our capacity right away in order to meet the present challenges, as well as those that lie ahead.
Since the beginning of the war, the UNBROKEN National Rehabilitation Center – which we are creating on the basis of our largest medical institution in the country and with the support of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine – has already helped more than 80 thousand patients and has performed more than 10 thousand surgical procedures. In addition to that, the Center also provides prosthetic services for Ukrainians. It is important that each patient is treated by a multidisciplinary team of surgeons, traumatologists, prosthetics specialists, psychotherapists and rehabilitation specialists. Our goal is to make sure that instead of seeking help abroad or in numerous medical institutions throughout the country, Ukrainians could get treatment in a SINGLE Center.
At the first stage, we are going to arrange 6 new operating rooms and 180 beds for rehabilitation patients within the current premises. The next step will be the construction of a new 25 thousand square meter Rehabilitation Center with modern equipment.
We plan to scale up all kinds of rehabilitation – post-surgical, traumatological, post-burn, physical, psychological, psychosocial, rehabilitation of children, as well as production and maintenance services of prostheses and robotic devices.
The new scope of work and new challenges will help Ukrainian doctors to gain new experience. We are glad that our doctors are receiving the support of foreign specialists and foreign hospitals which provide our healthcare professionals with an opportunity to learn and share experience with colleagues. We are going to introduce regular training programs for healthcare professionals from all over the world on the basis of the Center.
We are very grateful to our colleagues in those countries that stay united with Ukraine and are treating our patients today. However, our goal is to do our best so that Ukrainians could be treated and undergo quality rehabilitation in their own country under the supervision of Ukrainian doctors!