During a working trip to Lviv region, First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska visited a number of medical institutions and attended the opening of the Superhumans prosthetics and rehabilitation medical center.
Thus, the wife of the President together with Minister of Health Viktor Liashko, Head of the Coordinating Center for Mental Health Oksana Zbitneva, Project Development and Regional Coordination Director of the Coordinating Center for Mental Health Iryna Mykytchak with the participation of Head of Lviv Regional Military Administration Maksym Kozytsky visited the municipal non-profit enterprise of the Lviv Regional Council "West Ukrainian Specialized Children's Medical Center" (the director is Andriy Syniuta).
With the funds raised by the Embassy of Ukraine in the UK during a charity auction with the support of Zelenska, modern diagnostic and laboratory equipment was purchased for the institution. The total sum spent on the purchase was over UAH 45 million.
The guests also visited the mental health clinic for children, adolescents and youth at the West Ukrainian Specialized Children's Medical Center under the leadership of Lesia Pidlisetska.
Since 2022, the institution has been actively working within the framework of the National Mental Health Program initiated by the First Lady.
Also, at the initiative of the President's wife, in 2022 the clinic's specialists completed a training course at the Israeli Trauma and Resiliency Center NATAL, which specializes in helping with war- and terror-related trauma and stress. The clinic has implemented the program entitled "Support Groups for Parents "Children and the War" with the assistance of the Office of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Ukraine.
The clinic diagnoses neurodevelopmental disorders (war-related compulsive and anxiety disorders, depression, etc.), and adolescent disorders, and promotes staying healthy among adolescents and young people. During the full-scale invasion, the clinic's specialists provided 1,270 consultations to patients aged from two to 72 years.
In addition, the First Lady, Minister of Health Viktor Liashko, Minister of Social Policy of Ukraine Oksana Zholnovych, and the authorized advisor to the President of Ukraine on barrier-free issues, Tetiana Lomakina, visited the state-funded rehabilitation institution "Halychyna Center for Complex Rehabilitation for Persons with Disabilities" (the director is Hryhoriy Dunas).
Since April 2022, 625 people have been rehabilitated at the center, including 185 servicemen with prosthetics.
The Halychyna Center has entered into an agreement with the National Health Service of Ukraine and provides rehabilitation services to servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with upper and lower limb amputations, followed by prosthetics. Currently, 247 servicemen undergo rehabilitation and prosthetics at the institution.
A prosthetics laboratory has been created on the basis of the center together with the Kharkiv Institute of Prosthetics.
"Each defender has his own unique story of war, struggle with an attacker, injury. Now, our joint task is to create a story of recovery and new opportunities for them. Because this is what real effective gratitude looks like," Zelenska said.
During the trip, the First Lady, together with Minister of Health of Ukraine Viktor Liashko, Minister of Solidarity and Health of France Brigitte Bourguignon, Head of Lviv Regional Military Administration Maksym Kozytsky participated in the opening of the world-class national medical center for Ukrainians with complex war injuries Superhumans.
Free prosthetics, rehabilitation, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) treatment, and reconstructive surgery will be provided here. The first stage of the center is located on the territory of the Lviv Regional Hospital for War Veterans and Repressed Persons named after Yuriy Lypa. It has independent management.
Superhumans uses a comprehensive approach to treatment and strives to change the perception of Ukrainians who have suffered complex injuries and lost limbs and psychological approach to them. Prostheses will be produced and assembled here in-house – the prosthetics laboratory was created with the participation of the leading German company Ottobock. The rehabilitation department has a large swimming pool and multifunctional facilities for physical therapy.
Zelenska and Liashko are members of the Superhumans supervisory board.
"Superhumans is not only about modern prosthetics. This is an initiative to restore opportunities in the broadest sense – physical and psychological. It is about recovery. Because when one person gets stronger, we all get stronger. And now we have a literal, not metaphorical, place of strength, where people, and therefore the country, are being recovered," the President's wife said.
The First Lady said that the center was designed and renovated with a focus on maximum accessibility for everyone: people in wheelchairs, with prostheses, and with visual and hearing impairments.
"Accessibility is another feature of Superhumans, which means a lot to me personally because I have been involved in accessibility for a long time. Superhumans will set barrier-free standards for all medical facilities in Ukraine. And for the country in general, because in my opinion, a recovered Ukraine is a country where people's development is not limited by age, physical condition, prejudice, or finances," Zelenska said.
She thanked the patrons of the project – world-famous philanthropists Howard Buffett, whose $16.3 million contribution enabled Superhumans to open the first stage of the medical center, and Richard Branson. The second phase of the facility with a surgical department and an inpatient unit will be launched by the end of 2023.
"Something about the name. It's not just a project name anymore. This, in my opinion, is a social contract expressed in one word. A philosophy worthy not only of the clinic, but also of the country. Superheroes instead of victims. Superpower instead of limited capabilities. We want to build not only a super clinic, but a super country for Ukrainians. Because they are all superhumans," Zelenska said.
