During our trip to Ukraine in June, we were able to strengthen existing contacts and make new ones. The trusting cooperation under difficult conditions is greatly appreciated by all those involved.
Our Ukraine coordinator visited several clinics of the hospital network in Lviv, including the First Medical Union, the St. Nicholas Children’s Hospital and the main clinic St. Panteleimonos. GIZ representatives from the Clinic Partnerships funding program, which supports our involvement in Ukraine, were also involved in the discussions.
During the visit, we familiarized ourselves with the work of the facilities and discussed current projects. In particular, the importance of further support in Ukraine was emphasized.
The clinics mentioned above do not only accept patients from the Lviv region, but above all wounded civilians from all parts of Ukraine. This puts a great strain on healthcare provision.
We met with Deputy Mayor Andriy Moskalenko at Lviv City Hall for a constructive discussion, which included many new ideas and concrete points of contact.
Several ongoing projects were presented, which are being implemented in cooperation with the GIZ funding program Clinic Partnerships and are of great importance for the city.
The current challenges of the city in the field of emergency medical care, ongoing projects and next steps of the AGNF in Ukraine as well as the strengthening of Lviv as an educational center for emergency medicine were discussed.
At a meeting at the Ukrainian Ministry of Health, representatives of the ministry, the GIZ Clinic Partnerships funding program and the Institute for Emergency and Disaster Medicine reflected on the past few months with a particular focus on the completed project to build capacity in medical care for the population. The project partners expressed their gratitude for the cooperation so far and showed great interest in further joint projects.
The development and implementation of structured trauma care is one of the central goals of the AGNF in Ukraine. We therefore used our stay in Ukraine for a technical meeting with our local partners from STC in Kyiv. They train both medical professionals and civilians in advanced first aid, always with the aim of ensuring that the Ukrainian population can be treated quickly and effectively in an emergency, thereby saving lives.
Together, we discussed and planned important next steps on the way to state recognition and the introduction of new, practical ITLS courses specifically for Ukraine.
We also had the opportunity to visit the renowned medical faculty “National Medical Ivan Horbaczewski University” in Ternopil. In addition to an intensive professional exchange on the education and training components of our joint projects, we had the unique opportunity to take part in the graduation ceremony for over 1,000 graduates, including those studying human medicine, dentistry, medical psychology and nursing science. In addition, a new emergency medical services course in the field of pre-hospital emergency care, which is important for the whole of Ukraine and will be offered by our partner from next year, was presented. We are proud to be part of this international collaboration!
The trip concluded with a visit to the Unbroken Foundation rehabilitation center in Lviv. Existing activities were discussed, further activities were planned and the possibilities of new projects were discussed. Our focus here is on meeting local needs.
Throughout the trip, the importance of continued support in Ukraine and the trusting cooperation was emphasized by all sides. Further information and the opportunity to support our commitment in Ukraine with a donation can be found at AGNF worldwide.