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08 October 2005 21:10

First Lady visits Chicago hospitals

In Chicago, Kateryna Yushchenko visited several hospitals: the Rush University Medical Center, one of the biggest hospitals in the city, the Schreiners’ Hospital for children with orthopedic and neurological pathologies and the Ronald MacDonald Children’s Hospital. The First Lady was accompanied by Melody Hugh, a founder of the Bridges Across the Atlantic charitable organization.

Mrs. Yushchenko spoke with doctors and heads of these medical institutions and urged them to cooperate with Ukrainian hospitals within the framework of the Hospital To Hospital program. They agreed that American specialists would share standards to treat retarded children, prevent HIV/AIDS perinatal transmission, screen deafness and prevent sudden death with their Ukrainian colleagues. They also agreed that, in the middle of November, four children’s physicians from Ukraine would practice in Chicago.

The President’s wife also met with representatives of the Chicago Department of Public Health, the Ukrainian Medical Association of North America (UMANA) and the Global Medical Foundation, an NGO whose motto is To Serve Mankind. Members of this foundation render free medical aid to the people of the Philippines, Egypt, Ecuador, Mexico, Bolivia, Romania and Ukraine. There are many Ukrainian doctors at the Global Medical Foundation.

At those meetings its participants agreed that, sponsored by the Ukrainian Medical Association of North America, Ukrainian doctors would be able to practice in the United States next year. The UMANA representatives spoke about the Doctor-Net system, an Internet network of doctors to exchange information on difficult cases of diagnostics and treatment. In 2006, several UMANA representatives will visit Ukrainian hospitals.