Themes by tag: doctors

Olha was an operating room nurse at the Department of Surgery in Hospital No. 555 in Mariupol. Russia’s full-scale invasion caught her while in Mariupol: she was helping to rescue wounded soldiers and civilians (including children). At that time, the medics did not even have time to sleep.

The enemy bomb hit the hospital on March 16, 2022. (The woman was in the operating room at the moment of the attack. The blast wave blew away her and her colleagues). The next day, the nurse was sent to the Ilich Iron and Steel Works together with other doctors. Under extremely tough conditions, in a bunker, they had to do, among other things, bandages and amputations, and doctors even performed open brain neurosurgery.

On April 12, 2022, the nurse and other doctors were taken prisoner. Olha was held in occupied Olenivka, Russian Taganrog, Valuiky, and Kursk, among other places. She was held in captivity for six months. The woman faced humiliation, interrogations, physical and psychological pressure.

For reference, more than 500 Ukrainian medical professionals are currently detained in Russia. Among them are both civilian and military doctors, according to the Center for Civil Liberties. Journalists can also ask for comments from the Center’s experts.

• doctors
• prisoners
• women

On Independence Day, a photo exhibition, “Generation of the Unbreakable. The Art of Creating,” dedicated to the defenders and their families whose lives were changed by their service. On August 23, the exhibition will be opened by its heroes, patients of the National Rehabilitation Center UNBROKEN. Each of them was seriously injured and now needs long-term treatment and rehabilitation. 

The five defenders will share their stories and the challenges they face on a daily basis. Together with the specialists of the Mental Health Center of the National Rehabilitation Center UNBROKEN, they will tell how to communicate with defenders who have been seriously injured in the war, how to behave properly, and what not to ask.

The National Rehabilitation Center UNBROKEN patients are among the participants:

Volodymyr Rudkovskyi, a military man and young father. Before Russia’s full-scale aggression, he had been living an active lifestyle, running his own business, and was involved in sports. His right leg was amputated.

Mykhailo Bakaliuk, a soldier, originally from the Donetsk region. Father of three sons, the youngest is three months old. A serviceman had his left leg amputated.

Valentyn Anokhin, a soldier, dreams of playing basketball and making children fall in love with sports.

Oleksandr Zhuravel, a military paramedic, is the second patient in Ukraine to have a prosthesis implanted in his bone. His right leg was amputated. 

Pavlo Patseruk, soldier, junior lieutenant, platoon commander. Multiple shrapnel injuries of two lower limbs. 

Other participants:

Andrii Sadovyi, mayor of Lviv, ambassador of UNBROKEN.

Oleh Samchuk, Director General of the First Medical Association of Lviv.

Iryna Zaslavets, development director of the First Medical Association of Lviv, UNBROKEN project manager, moderator of the event

Oleksandr Kobzarev, Executive Director of the UNBROKEN Foundation.

Natalia Grodz, a psychologist at the Mental Health Center of the National Rehabilitation Center UNBROKEN. 

Victoria Khemych, mentor at the National Rehabilitation Center UNBROKEN. 

Event accreditation is required for the exhibition.

• casualties
• culture
• doctors
• military

Sarah Ashton-Cirillo is 46 years old. She is an American journalist and transgender woman. Sarah came to Ukraine at the beginning of russia’s full-scale invasion. In March 2022, she covered the topic of Ukrainian refugees in Poland, and later joined the territorial defense forces of Ukraine and became a combat medic. At the same time, Sarah continued to write reports for foreign media about enemy shelling. In 2023, the woman was injured, and soon after she received an invitation to join the public relations team of the Territorial Defense Forces. Sarah Ashton-Cirillo’s new position has sparked a lot of discussion. However, this did not affect Sarah’s motivation to serve in the Armed Forces.

• doctors
• military
• women
• LGBT

Bohdan is 27 and was born in Donetsk. He studied at the Donetsk National Medical University, but in 2014 he had to transfer to Kyiv and continue his education.

Before the full-scale war, he worked as a cardiologist in private medical centers. After February 24, 2022, he joined the FRIDA Ukraine Ukrainian-Israeli medical volunteer mission. He provided medical assistance for over 50 medical missions. He treated people in the de-occupied and frontline territories. He had to deal with his work accompanied by the sounds of explosions and doing his job in shelters. During this time, the doctor conducted lifesaving missions to Ukrainians in Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Kherson, Sumy, Donetsk, Mykolaiv, and Dnipro regions.

Recently, Bohdan became the head of a project launched by FRIDA Ukraine in the Kharkiv region together with Polska Misja Medyczna: mobile clinics operate in the region. The team of doctors will have patient appointments in different parts of the de-occupied Kharkiv region for six months.

Journalists are also welcome to cover how mobile clinics operate in the Kharkiv region.

• casualties
• doctors
• Kharkiv
• Kyiv

On August 16, Nine days will have passed since Andrii Babinskyi died in a battle against the russians. The organizers of the rally in memory of the fallen combat medic and the founder of the Vyshyvanka Megamarch call on everyone to wear embroidered shirts to work, study or just for a walk around the city.

On the same day, a commemorative event will be held in Kyiv, to which people are also invited to come wearing vyshyvankas:

6:30 PM – Gathering near the monument to Yaroslav the Wise (Zoloti Vorota metro station)

7:30 PM – The Wall of Remembrance of the Fallen for Ukraine (Triohsviatytelska St.).

After the performance by several musicians, the participants will go to the Wall of Remembrance, where they will honor Andrii Babinskyi, Maksym Nepyjpyvo and all fallen heroes in the russo-Ukrainian war with a moment of silence and performance of the National Anthem of Ukraine.

For reference: On August 8, 2023, Andrii Babinskyi, the creator of the Vyshyvanka Megamarch, a public figure, a biochemist by profession, a senior soldier and a combat medic of the 80th Separate Airborne Assault Brigade, died in a battle with the russian invaders.

While still a student, in the fall of 2008, Andrii started the Vyshyvanka Megamarch – an event in the capital that eventually became an international movement. Participants of the Megamarch traditionally gather twice a year in vyshyvankas and march through the streets of cities.

• dead
• doctors
• military
• Kyiv

At the Superhumans Center, a modern rehabilitation and prosthetics center for war victims, hydrotherapy is used as one of the methods of rehabilitation. There is a state-of-the-art pool that is specifically adapted to the needs of patients. The treatment improves both the physical and psychological condition of the victims.

Patients can exercise in the pool only when wearing a special waterproof prosthesis. 

• casualties
• doctors
• Lviv

The serviceman with the call sign “Darwin” was mobilized a few weeks after the start of russia’s full-scale invasion. The military man says that he did not hesitate before this decision, but he had to settle the affairs he had in civilian life. “Darwin” is a doctor by profession, his expertise is in DNA analysis. Before the big war, the soldier combined medicine and IT work: he wrote code for DNA analysis that would help detect genetic diseases in children. “Darwin” has applied to Oakland University in Michigan, the U.S. and was supposed to begin his studies in the fall of 2022. However, he decided to postpone his education until Ukraine’s victory.

Now “Darvin” is at the front, journalists are welcome to communicate with him online or – by agreement – in one of the settlements in Kharkiv region. 

• doctors
• military

Yurik Mkrtchian is a military doctor. He worked as an anesthesiologist and intensivist at the Dnipro Military Hospital. At the end of March 2022, he was informed that there was a shortage of doctors in Mariupol, where heavy fighting was taking place. So Yurik arrived in the city. Rescued people at Illich Steel and Iron Works. 

On April 12, 2022, along with other medical workers, Yurik Mkrtchian was taken prisoner. First, they were taken to a filtration camp in Sartana. The camp was set up on the territory of a destroyed farm. The prisoners had to sleep on the floor, and they ate only once a day. And even in those conditions, doctors tried to continue treating wounded Ukrainian soldiers. A few days later, the prisoners were transferred to the penal colony in Olenivka. And from October 16 to November 3, the man was detained in occupied Horlivka. In total, the doctor spent 206 days in captivity.

For reference: more than 500 Ukrainian doctors are currently forcibly detained by russia, including both civilians and military medics, the Center for Civil Liberties reports. Journalists are welcome to request comments from the Center’s experts.

• doctors
• military
• prisoners

On August 15, training for future medical volunteers will take place in Kyiv. Such courses in Ukraine are organized on a regular basis by the volunteer medical battalion “Hospitallers.” Training in the capital will last 7-10 days.

Journalists are welcomed to cover the process of medical training.

For reference: “Hospitallers” is a volunteer paramedic organization. It was founded by Yana Zinkevych at the beginning of hostilities in Ukraine in 2014. Then russia annexed Crimea and started hostilities in the east of the country.

• doctors
• Kyiv

On Friday, August 11, Center for Endoprosthetics, Osseointegration and Bionics will hold a press conference. In particular, the participants will announce the first shoulder osseointegration surgery and there will be a knee replacement surgery demonstration.

Military personnel who have already received free surgical assistance invited to the press conference include:

Oleksandr Davydov, who was seriously injured in the explosion while providing cover for his brothers in arms with his own body;

Roman Kuksiuk, who was wounded during fierce fighting near Bakhmut;

Andrii Oshlakov, who came under artillery fire near Lysychansk;

The format of the press conference includes a demonstration of knee arthroplasty technique. Serhii Mynder will undergo surgery. In 2015 he joined the intelligence service and was wounded during the Anti-Terrorist Operation. With the beginning of a full-scale invasion, he went to war again. He went through Bucha, Marinka, Kozelets and Troitske.

Leading doctors of the country will take part in the event. The “Life Saving Center” charitable foundation provides free treatment of servicemen at the Center for Endoprosthetics, Osseointegration and Bionics.

• casualties
• doctors
• military
• Kyiv