At Ukraine Crisis Media Center, the Kolo Charity Foundation presented two volunteer projects aimed at helping military medicine.
The idea of converting old carriages into modern medical carriages arose in the spring of 2022. At the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the evacuation of the wounded from the front line was impossible due to the closed sky. There were not enough sanitary vehicles, and the carriages of Ukrzaliznytsia sanitary trains were in unsatisfactory condition.
In order to provide comfortable conditions for transporting the wounded and proper medical care, it was necessary to radically change the approaches to organizing evacuation.
In May 2022, railway workers and doctors managed to convert the first old carriage into an intensive care unit in four days
“Ukrzaliznytsia did everything it could at that time. They took second-class carriages, cut off the side berths so that crash carts could conveniently enter there, and made ramps. This solution was temporary, but, as it turned out, it really saved the entire military medical system at that time,” recalls Iryna Soloshenko, volunteer, project manager at the Kolo Charity Foundation.
As of today, the total number of carriages involved in medical evacuation in Ukraine is 70 units.
With the foreign donor’s funds, we purchased modern portable equipment for carriages with 10 beds, in particular, oxygen concentrators, pulse oximeters, infusion systems, patient monitors, etc. Besides, modern portable equipment for intensive care units was purchased with the funds of donors and the Command of the Medical Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. This equipment includes portable ventilators, portable patient monitors, infusion pumps, and defibrillators.
Each carriage is equipped with ecoflow generators and charging plants ensuring power supply autonomy.
“It’s all such joint creativity. The Command of the Medical Forces is in charge of medical treatment, the medical part of these carriages. Ukrzaliznytsia is in charge of maintaining and repairing the carriages, conducting technical supervision, and, of course, transporting the wounded. This is a complex. These are not buses. To transport the wounded, it is impossible to make a carriage and simply say: “Here is a carriage for you.” This is a complex subject. And we know what kind of logistics Ukrzaliznytsia provides for these two years. Now we all understand that, in principle, the whole country is supported thanks to their work,” emphasized the project manager of the Kolo Charity Foundation.
Another project of the Foundation is the idea of creating a modern emergency medical care department on the basis of the National Military Medical Center “Main Military Clinical Hospital”.
Currently, the emergency care department is located in a historical building, which is separated from the buildings of the surgery and trauma departments, and does not meet the modern requirements for medical institutions regarding accessibility, sanitary and medical norms.
“We strive to create a modern emergency medical care department, which will be provided with: an anti-radiation shelter according to the latest sanitary standards, a warm box for first aid, diagnostic rooms, intensive care wards, elevators and barrier-free access,” Iryna Soloshenko emphasized.
The project was also launched in 2022. It has already received the support from the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine and entered the phase of practical implementation. The 5 principles included in its concept will create comfortable conditions for the wounded and doctors, as well as a research platform for student training and advanced training of medical practitioners.
The first principle is respect. This is the convenience of infrastructure for patients and doctors, which ensures the most efficient process of providing care and decent conditions of stay in the hospital. Ensuring the inclusiveness and availability of all necessary medical services contributes to decent treatment of our heroes.
Inclusiveness is the provision of specially equipped premises, comfortable conditions and access to all necessary rehabilitation services. Ensuring inclusiveness promotes faster recovery and improves the quality of life of wounded servicemen.
Convenience is a developed and easily accessible infrastructure of a medical institution, which will ensure comfortable movement and access to all medical services. Such an infrastructure contributes to the effective treatment and rehabilitation of wounded soldiers, increasing their chances of a quick recovery.
Modernity means high-quality technological solutions in the modernization of premises and equipment, which ensure more accurate diagnosis, effective treatment and quick rehabilitation of patients.
And finally, expeditiousness is the time of providing medical care, organized logistics and ease of navigation in the hospital premises, which ensure prompt provision of the necessary medical services.
Dmytro Afanasiyev told about how the Kolo Chariy Foundation managed to create a working system over the years.
The foundation was engaged in projects even before the full-scale invasion, however then one day, according to the volunteers, they “changed their shoes.”
“What Iryna is doing is very synchronous with our understanding of how we see ourselves in these times. Now the medical area is one of the main ones. We believe that Heroes who have given a part of themselves should receive very high-quality, top-notch, modern and useful help. When everything started in May 2022, we said to ourselves: let’s sort it out somehow. The launched mechanism had to be systematized and optimized. Now there are already developed areas. We have already decided to be engaged in particular areas rather than in doing everything. We understand what these areas need and receive support from the state. The state helps as much as it can and thanks volunteers admitting that it would not have been able to do it itself,” said the Kolo Foundation’s representative.