Today is the first anniversary of the launch of the field of prosthetics at the UNBROKEN National Rehabilitation Center. Today, there is a modern multi-section workshop with an area of 250 m², equipped with the best equipment of the world’s leading manufacturers. During the year, specialists of the NEZLAMNI Center produced 215 prostheses, 13 of them bionic.
On this occasion, today the workshop opened its doors to visitors and showed everyone what the daily work of a large team of prosthetists looks like and all the stages of manufacturing artificial limbs.
“As of this moment, 215 prostheses have already been installed here, and these are 215 people who did not leave Ukraine and did not seek help in other countries of the world. It is wonderful when Ukrainians receive quality treatment in Ukraine.
With the help of our partners, our patients received state-of-the-art prostheses. This is already a great result, but we still have many plans. We want to create another prosthetics workshop at St. Luke’s Hospital and a prosthetic mini-factory at St. Panteleimon’s Hospital. We also want to increase the number of professional prosthetists. For this, we need donors and sponsors, because the number of people who need our help, unfortunately, is growing, and we must provide everyone with an active, healthy life,” emphasized Oleg Samchuk, general director of the First Medical Association of Lviv.
The event was also attended by defenders who received prostheses in this workshop. Ihor Krupnov became the first patient in Ukraine to whom doctors inserted a prosthesis directly into the bone (osteointegration prosthetics).
“A year ago, I was alive and well, holding the defense in the southern direction. At the end of November 2022, my car blew up on an anti-tank mine. Very quickly I found myself in Lviv, in this hospital, and I immediately felt what kind of professionals work here. I was brought out of a very difficult condition and put on my feet. It was on me that they tried a new method of prosthetics – osseointegration prosthetics. I already feel that this is a cool method, because my prostheses are so comfortable, light and compact that I can move around very easily on them, and most people don’t even know that I have steel legs,” Igor said.
Another patient was Oleksandr Morskyi, a border guard who served in Mariupol and was a prisoner in Olenivka. The man was treated for several months at the NEZLAMNI center and was one of the first to receive a hand prosthesis.
“The appearance of the prosthesis opened up new perspectives for me, I became more confident in myself. I can already do something on my own without anyone’s help. Now I’m trying to do something more complicated that I used to do with my hand. A prosthesis is, first of all, very important as psychological support, because with it you feel like an ordinary person,” Oleksandr shares.
Defenders with artificial limbs return to the front line, some remain at the Center, working as mentors, some continue to help by volunteering.
The first mobile prosthetic workshop of the National Rehabilitation Center UNBROKEN became operational in September 2022. It, together with equipment from the German company Ottobock, was provided by the Maltese Aid Service with the support of the Government of Germany and the Ministry of Health of Ukraine. In March 2023, a new, powerful, multi-section prosthetic workshop was put into operation, where there is a plaster cast, rooms with furnaces and machines, where stump receivers are made, as well as rooms for fitting and training. It was possible to implement such a large-scale project with the support of the NESCAFÉ brand – the Nestlé company transferred UAH 3.5 million to UNBROKEN for the renovation of the premises. Equipment worth 10 million hryvnias was purchased thanks to the organization “The Global Jewish 9-1-1” and BF “Zaporuka”. It was transported from Germany by the Meest company.
“This is a space in which the main people are the people who sacrificed their health for Ukraine. On the other hand, there are those specialists, specialists who help them and do real miracles. This is a space where there is a synergy of these people, so I want to thank everyone who works to make this all possible. I’m glad that we are increasing opportunities with all our might, and as many heroes as possible could receive help,” said Andriy Moskalenko, First Deputy Mayor of Lviv.