In Lviv, the city’s oldest resident, Olena Kyrylivna Rybalko, has celebrated her 109th birthday. On her birthday, a representative of the Social Welfare Department of Lviv City Council visited her, passed on greetings from the community, and presented her with financial assistance and a “Longevity Basket” with a bouquet of flowers.
Olena Rybalko was born on 2 June 1917 in the Vinnytsia region, where she obtained a medical education. She lived through the Holodomor of 1932–1933, and after the Second World War she moved to the Lviv region.
By profession, Mrs Olena is a doctor and a former liaison officer for the UPA. Working as a physician, she helped wounded insurgents and devoted almost her entire life to medicine, retiring at the age of 89. Among her patients were prominent figures of Ukrainian culture, science and the Church — Dmytro Pavlychko, Ivan Krypiakevych, Yosyp Kladochnyi, as well as wounded insurgents.
Head of the Social Welfare Department of Lviv City Council, Tetiana Kolesnyk, said that, on behalf of the Lviv community, Olena Rybalko was presented with 10,000 hryvnias in assistance and a “Longevity Basket” with flowers. She wished the birthday celebrant robust health, family warmth, the love of her nearest and dearest, and daily joy.
The Social Welfare Department reminds residents that the Lviv community supports people aged 100 and over. If there are such long-livers in a family or among neighbours, they ask that the relevant district Social Welfare Offices at the birthday celebrant’s place of registration be informed.
Social Welfare Department employee Ivan Fasolnyk has been visiting and congratulating the oldest residents of the Lviv community for 18 years now — those who are 100 and over — bringing them attention and a sense of celebration.