57 injured Donbas children undergo rehabilitation
57 injured Donbas children were provided with assistance from Rinat Akhmetov Humanitarian Center as part of "Rehabilitation of Injured Children" project. 53 of these children took a course of rehabilitation treatment in health resorts of Ukraine. Four other kids were issued individual rehabilitation equipment. This was announced during the press briefing at Ukrainski Novyny information agency by the Center's Coordinator Rimma Fil and the Head of 'Targeted Assistance' direction Yuliia Herasymenko.
"There are 163 injured children registered in the Humanitarian Center's database. These are the families and children we were contacting and still keep in touch with, after we offered and provided them with assistance. We help individually is each case. Help with medications, surgeries, rehabilitation equipment. And having realized that injured children is a systemic problem, in March 2016 Rinat Akhmetov Humanitarian Center launched a project called "Rehabilitation of Injured Children". All the injured children who needed rehabilitation were provided with assistance in the required volume", ‒ Rimma Fil shared.
A lot of requests for help were coming on the Center's hotline from parents living in different Donbas towns. 60% of those, who asked the Center for help, were residents of non-government-controlled areas. The other 40% are internally displaced persons and residents of the "grey zone" and peaceful territory of Donbas. Most of requests for rehabilitation came from Donetsk, Mariupol, Avdiivka and Kramatorsk. Health resorts also hosted children from Antratsyt, Hirniak, Yenakiieve, Krasnohorivka, Marinka, Nevelske, Mykolaivka, Novoluhanske, Svitlodarsk, Toshkivka and Vuhlehirsk.
Assistance is provided in the following directions:
- recovery of musculoskeletal system;
- rehabilitative treatment of internal organs;
- correction of state after operative long-term treatment;
- limb prostheses;
- rehabilitation equipment;
- treatment of neurological diseases.
The Humanitarian Center's specialists chose the best three health resorts for rehabilitation in Ukraine: 'Slavkurort' in Sloviansk, 'Arktyka' in Berdiansk and 'Velykyi Luh' in Zaporizhia.
"Every request and every disease were discussed and agreed with parents and doctors. The tactics of treatment was worked through. All the children stayed in the health resorts with their parents. Unfortunately, shelling in Donbas is continuing. Children suffer again. We monitor all cases of injured children and offer all the necessary assistance to the victims", ‒ Yuliia Herasymenko explained.
In late May 2016 Zaporizhia heath resort hosted four-year-old Milana from Mariupol. The child was severely injured and lost her mom to shelling of the city in January 2015. "When the disaster happened, Rinat Akhmetov Humanitarian Center was the first one to help. We were provided with all the necessary medications for surgery and treatment, consumables and baby food. I also want to thank the Center for its psychologist. It was extremely hard for Milana to lose her mom at the age of three, get injured and see shells exploding five metres away from her. She was afraid of flash lights, knocking at the door and the sound of aircraft. She was hiding all the time, called her mom every second. But psychologists helped us a lot, and they still continue working with my granddaughter", ‒ Olha Abdurashytova, Milana's grandmother, shares.
After the treatment in Dnipropetrovsk and Kyiv the girl was put a prosthetic leg, provided by Fritz Kreuzer Foundation. After that Milana went for rehabilitation arranged by Rinat Akhmetov Humanitarian Center. She went through the required set of procedures to strengthen the musculoskeletal system and get used to the prosthesis. Some procedures helped the child to stabilize the condition of her nervous system.
"We are living through every tragedy together with families. Otherwise, you cannot help truly and sincerely. And the Humanitarian Center's assistance is coming from the bottom of the heart. Rinat Akhmetov knows about every case of injured child personally. He follows every story, joins the assistance process. Unfortunately, demand for rehabilitation remains relevant. People are still being killed in Donbas. The Humanitarian Center is ready and will keep providing targeted assistance to children affected by Eastern Ukrainian conflict. But we hope that there won't be injured children in the future", ‒ Rimma Fil said.
