The First Lady of Ukraine had a video call with First Lady of Poland Agata Kornhauser-Duda. Olena Zelenska thanked her colleague for systematic and extremely active assistance to Ukraine and its citizens.
In particular, with the support of the First Lady of Poland, a series of training sessions were held in Ukraine for Ukrainian doctors and rescuers in various fields.
39 Ukrainian doctors - rehabilitation specialists, burn specialists, anesthesiologists, and physiotherapists - completed an internship at the Eastern Center of the Burns Treatment and Reconstructive Surgery. Five groups of doctors and medical staff from institutions in Lviv, Kyiv, Odesa, Rivne, Ivano-Frankivsk, Vinnytsia, Dnipropetrovsk, Kropyvnytskyi, Uzhhorod, Cherkasy, and Ternopil took part in the training program.
49 Ukrainian emergency medicine doctors were trained in Poland as part of Polish helicopter air brigades under the Helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) program.
Pursuant to the agreements reached between the First Lady of Poland and the First Lady of Ukraine in Warsaw during the visit of the Ukrainian presidential couple to Poland on April 5, 2023, a new series of specialized training courses was launched for medical personnel from Ukraine in the areas of rehabilitation, stress management and psychotrauma.
100 Ukrainian doctors (rehabilitation therapists, psychologists and psychiatrists) were trained in the diagnosis and treatment of war-related stress disorders at the Military Medical Institute of the National Research Institute in Warsaw.
In September of this year, medical professionals from Ukraine were trained in advanced life-saving methods and combat medicine. Instructors from the Air Ambulance Service and the Department of Emergency Medicine at the Warsaw Medical University are training Ukrainian doctors, feldshers and nurses. A total of 90 women took part in the program.
Under agreements with the Association of Volunteer Fire Brigades of the Republic of Poland (covering units of volunteer fire brigades operating throughout Poland and numbering nearly 700,000 members), training courses for volunteer firefighters were organized. The training took place in two locations: the Strażak Training Center in Turawa (Opole Voivodeship) and the Kirowy Gosciniec Training and Recreation Center in Koscielisko (Małopolska Voivodeship).
"Dear Agata, I am grateful to you for not only helping to organize these trainings, but also personally visiting Ukrainian doctors during their internships in Warsaw, having warm meetings and supporting Ukrainian doctors who have been and are currently undergoing internships," Olena Zelenska said.
The first ladies also discussed further cooperation between the countries to save lives. In particular, the possibility of training employees of emergency medical centers, workers of children's homes, nursing homes or hospices, as well as family upbringing specialists.
"Today in Ukraine, there is a need for coaches to train future foster parents, guardians, trustees, adoptive parents and foster caregivers. Therefore, the opportunity to learn and exchange experience with the Republic of Poland is extremely important for us. We know that Poland has a national framework curriculum for family-based forms of upbringing, as well as good practices of municipal training programs for candidates for guardians," Olena Zelenska noted.
The first ladies also discussed the results of the third Summit of First Ladies and Gentlemen, which took place on September 6, 2023 in Kyiv.
"The result of our joint work is especially important: under the auspices of the Summit, a satellite summit of health ministers from different countries was held for the first time and a unique project was launched: The International Medical Partnership, which signed 25 memoranda of cooperation between medical institutions of Ukraine and other countries. This will allow for faster and more efficient saving of human lives, which are under particular threat in Ukraine every day due to Russian aggression. This will support and strengthen Ukraine's medical system, which has been under enormous strain for two years now and is being tested by the war. But these memoranda are bilateral. We want not only to take but also to give. Specialists from foreign clinics will have the opportunity to learn from their Ukrainian colleagues how to save lives in extreme conditions. All participants will be able to conduct joint operations, research and training," Olena Zelenska noted.
In particular, a memorandum of international medical partnership was signed between the Children Memorial Health Institute, Warsaw, Republic of Poland, and the National Children's Specialized Hospital "Ohmatdyt" of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine. The subject of the memorandum is, among other things, cooperation on the implementation of a program for children's liver and kidney transplantation at the National Children's Specialized Hospital "Ohmatdyt" of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine based on the requirements of the European Reference Network TransplantChild.
"We strive to save every life. We are grateful to our friends who help us do this in the best possible way," Olena Zelenska said.