Canada, U.S. to help Ukraine to develop its own prosthetic care system
Canadian and American prosthetic care specialists will share their experience with Ukrainian colleagues as part of the Ukraine Prosthetic Assistance Project to provide high-quality prosthetic care and rehabilitation in Ukraine.
"Many of those who need prosthetic care would like to do this abroad, but this costs a lot. We started looking for ways how we can develop prosthetic care in Ukraine. The main goal of the project is the transfer of experience of U.S. and Canadian specialists to Ukrainian colleagues and the provision of prosthetic care to candidates-participants of the project," Project Manager and representative of Euromaidan Canada at the Ukrainian Canadian Congress in Toronto Antonina Kumka said at a press conference in Kyiv on Monday.
She said that Ukrainian prosthetic care specialists from Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa, Kharkiv, Khmelnytsky and Lviv will be trained by professionals from the United States and Canada who are doing this on the voluntary basis. They took unpaid leave and arrived in Ukraine to support the country.
Kumka said that at present, the project costs around CAD 55,000. Its real cost is around CAD 200,000, which was reduced thanks to assistance from various organizations. The Canada Ukraine Foundation, Rehabilitation International and the Ukrainian Diaspora in Canada provide financial support, the Social Policy Ministry of Ukraine provides administrative support, and the Orthotech-Service provides technical support.
Founder of U.S. ProsthetiKa and President of the International Society for Prosthetics and Orthotics (US ISPO) Jon Batzdorff said that the conditions for prosthetic care could be created in Ukraine, as obtaining the services abroad does not always bring the desired results.
"All the prosthetic appliances require technical support, they should be installed properly and they should be maintained. Persons could receive good prosthetic appliances abroad, but then they return home, a week or a month will pass and persons will return to the situation when no one will be able to service the prosthetic appliances," he said.
