First Lady Olena Zelenska visited Poland together with President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
During the visit, the wife of the Ukrainian President and First Lady of the Republic of Poland Agata Kornhauser-Duda met with 11 Ukrainian medics who are completing a practical course on helicopter emergency medical care. The training is carried out within the projects of the First Ladies of Ukraine and Poland on the exchange of experience between the countries.
The training of Ukrainian medical personnel in the competences, procedures and organization of the helicopter emergency medical service is a response to the need to train medics for activities related to the protection and evacuation by air transport of wounded military and civilians from combat zones and is aimed at the development of HEMS in Ukraine.
In addition, Ukrainian medics were trained in Poland to provide comprehensive medical care to patients with burns: as of March 31, 39 medics from Ukraine completed their training at the Independent Public Health Care Center in Łęczna.
In total, 89 Ukrainian medical workers from Cherkasy, Lviv, Kyiv, Odesa, Rivne and Ivano-Frankivsk were trained in Poland as part of the cooperation.
The training sessions, which were launched by the First Ladies of the two countries last year, were conducted by the Air Ambulance Service, the East Center of Burns Treatment and Reconstructive Surgery in Łęczna, and the Centre of Medical Simulation at the Medical University of Lublin.
Olena Zelenska thanked all the organizers and Polish specialists who made the training possible: Agata Kornhauser-Duda, Head of the National Security Bureau of the Republic of Poland Jacek Siewiera, Director of the Aviation Rescue Service Robert Galonzkowski, Director of the Health Care Center in Łęczna, professor Krzysztof Bojarski, Deputy Director of the Center for Medical Affairs Piotr Tomak and Head of the Burns Treatment Center in Łęczna Jerzy Strużyna.
"Throughout this difficult time, we know that what keeps us together is not only the desire for joint victory over the enemy, but also the struggle for real human values, first of all, for human lives. And we are happy to have in this struggle not only like-minded people, but also real colleagues whose support has a tangible practical dimension. All our joint projects are about life and saving it," the First Lady of Ukraine emphasized.
During the meeting, Olena Zelenska and Agata Kornhauser-Duda discussed the next stages of cooperation.
"The Ministry of Health of Ukraine is already forming appropriate groups to start training Ukrainian psychologists and psychiatrists in the rehabilitation of the wounded in the near future. The training of volunteer fire departments is also important, because Poland has a lot of experience in this field, and the creation and functioning of such rescue units in our country is now more relevant than ever," the wife of the President of Ukraine emphasized.
After the meeting with the medics, the First Ladies visited the Warsaw Rising Museum together.
The facility, opened on July 31, 2004, on the eve of the 60th anniversary of the uprising, houses more than 30,000 exhibits and memorials about the Warsaw Uprising of 1944 - the main military operation of the Polish Home Army against the Third Reich to liberate Warsaw.
"Here you can hear the living voices of the partisans, hear their songs and letters to their loved ones, here you can walk the streets of the insurgent Warsaw and see with horror how the beautiful city is gradually disappearing due to German bombing. A painfully familiar sight to Ukrainians, which is so reminiscent of Mariupol and other cities of Ukraine destroyed by the Russians... This museum preserves an important symbol - an allied plane that brought aid to the rebels. Unfortunately, this world's help turned out to be not enough. So Poland knows better than anyone what the need for timely help is. And when the aggressor attacked Ukraine, it came to our aid in time and even earlier than many," said Olena Zelenska.
Together with Agata Kornhauser-Duda, employees of the Embassy of Ukraine in Poland and director of the museum Jan Ołdakowski, the First Lady presented an updated audio guide in the Ukrainian language at the museum. The presentation took place in the framework of Olena Zelenska's project to create Ukrainian-language audio guides in the world's leading historical landmarks. Such audio guides are already available in 39 countries. The current audio guide is the 60th within the project.
"With the language of history and culture, we want to connect our past for the sake of a common future," said the wife of the President of Ukraine.
The First Ladies also visited the Center for Helping Migrants and Refugees in Warsaw, organized by Caritas Polska, a charitable institution of the Catholic Church, the largest social and charitable organization in the country, which provides professional multidimensional assistance to those in dire straits.
At the Center, Ukrainians can receive psychological support and consultations, material and social assistance, help with employment, contacts with authorities, renting housing, preparing letters and applications, translation from Polish, etc. Caritas Polska and diocesan branches have already opened 32 such centers in the country.
"Millions of Ukrainians received not only effective help, but also a priceless feeling: they are not left alone with problems in an unfamiliar country. Thank you to every Polish volunteer who accompanies Ukrainians on the difficult path of forced migrants. The good will definitely return a hundredfold," said Olena Zelenska.
