Ukrainian Children Come Back Home after Two Weeks Stay in the US to Get Prosthetics
16 October 2007 10:33
October 16, 2007, Ukrainian children, who had been on a 2-weeks trip to the United States to get artificial limbs, returned to Ukraine. Head of the Supervisory Board of the Ukraine 3000 International Charitable Fund Kateryna Yushchenko, Advisor to the Head of the Supervisory Board of the Fund Andriy Myroshnichenko, Director of the Medical Department of the Fund Vira Pavliuk, children’s parents, and representatives of the US Embassy to Ukraine and the Ukraine 3000 Fund met the children at the Boryspil Airport.
Mrs. Yushchenko welcomed the children back home and expressed her hope that everything had gone well and the children had a good time and received a beautiful experience.
Expert with the Medical Programs Department of the Ukraine 3000 Fund Taras Tkachuk, the trip coordinator, and Head of the Reconstructive and Plastic Surgery Department of the OKHMATDYT Hospital Volodymyr Fidelsky described the children’s stay in the US in more detail.
The children also shared their impressions and thanked Mrs. Yushchenko, the Ukraine 3000 Fund, and everybody helping to organize this event.
The trip for Ukrainian children to Orlando, Florida, was organized by the Ukraine 3000 International Charitable Fund and supported by Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart (the US) and the US Cuban community. Hanger Orthopedic Group experts have made modern prostheses for the Ukrainian children.
Recall that the Ukraine 3000 International Charitable Fund have decided to help children from needy and dysfunctional families. To this end, the Fund organized a trip to Orlando for two groups of children to get free prostheses from Hanger Orthopedic Group.
The first group included nine disabled children from Dnipropetrovsk, Chernivtsi, Chernihiv, Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Rivne, Odesa, Kirovohrad, and Khmelnytsky oblasts, requiring upper extremities prosthesis. Among them was Natalia Nikolenko, who was awarded with the Pride of the Country prize in the Strength of Spirit nomination this March.
The children were staying in the US from October 1 to 15, 2007. October 2-5, the Hanger Orthopedic Group experts were taking necessary measurements and preparing prostheses in Orlando. Also, Professor Charles Prysaddle, renowned orthopedist and trauma surgeon, director of the Orlando Hospital Orthopedic Department, was invited for consulting Natalia Nikolenko to evaluate what kind of surgery she might need and how effective it might be.
October 5, the children left to Miami to stay with the Cuban community families. October 7, a pool party was given for Ukrainian children at the Miami Baltimore Hotel, were Natalia Nikolenko and her supervisors stayed. Ambassador of Ukraine to the United States Oleh Shamshur attended the event.
October 8, the group visited the Miami Seaquarium, where they had a chance to swim in the pool with dolphins.
After their return to Orlando, the children kept visiting the Hanger Orthopedic Group, where their prosthesis had been finished. The children attended a rehabilitation specialist and learnt how to use their new limbs. Note that normally the process of making such high-end prosthesis takes 1-2 months. The Hanger Orthopedic Group had been working virtually round the clock to make it happen in such a short term.
At present, eight children have come back to Ukraine. Natalia Nikolenko stays in the US to proceed with her treatment course.
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