Today we are talking to Olena Khakhuza, a physical therapist's assistant the Center for Rehabilitation Medicine of the Poltava Regional Clinical Hospital named after M.V. Sklifosovsky.
- Olena, what supports you in your work with patients?
- The vast majority of patients are military personnel who were injured while defending their homeland, as well as civilians who suffered as a result of military operations and after suffering from diseases.
My job is to train the patient daily in accordance with the approved rehabilitation plan.
Together with a physical therapist, we work on the patient's muscle tone to avoid contractures, maintain joint mobility and restore lost functions.
It's nice to see a patient discharged from the ward when you clearly realize the result of your work and see what improvements they have made.
All the Center's employees recall the first months after the opening, when David, a foreigner, a French legionnaire, was admitted to the department. Everyone was amazed by his fate. In his previous life, during his service, his Ukrainian friends saved his life. And from the beginning of the full-scale war, he came to Ukraine from a distant country to help his friends. Defending our homeland, he received a penetrating head wound with brain damage.
After surgery and treatment in the neurosurgical unit, on the tenth day David was transferred to the Rehabilitation Medicine Center with hemiparesis, limited movement, and loss of the ability to move independently.
During the rehabilitation period, thanks to daily training, the patient's desire to recover, and the comprehensive work of the entire rehabilitation team, he managed to restore the range of motion in his upper limbs by 80%, the range of motion in his lower limbs by 95%, and restored his walking skills and ability to self-care.
People from all over the world are helping to protect our Ukraine.
Great respect, honor and gratitude to the friends of our country!
The Center for Rehabilitation Medicine has become a place of revival and new opportunities for many Ukrainians during the war and in the post-war period. And the body restored by an experienced team with the help of high-tech equipment gives hundreds of Ukrainians the opportunity to continue a long and happy life in an independent, free Ukraine.
The project "Hospital Partnerships - Partners Strengthen Health" is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)