A state-of-the-art rehabilitation centre for wounded personnel has been opened in Dnipro. This is the 11th centre of the national RECOVERY network founded by Victor Pinchuk and Olena Pinchuk to help the Ukrainian Security and Defence Forces.
The RECOVERY project is an example of a successful partnership between the private sector and the state, when philanthropists create innovative rehabilitation centres on the basis of state medical institutions. This is the third centre of the RECOVERY network in the Dnipro region, which has been receiving tens of thousands of wounded soldiers from the frontline since the first days of Russia’s war against Ukraine. Every year, more than 700 Ukrainian defenders will be able to receive high-quality, evidence-based and free rehabilitation services here.
“‘When our soldiers on the front line are defending our independence at the risk of losing some of their health, we in the rear must do everything we can to enable them to live an independent life. Rehabilitation is one more opportunity to ensure their personal independence. My wife Olena and I are developing a network of rehabilitation centres across the country, and this is one of our top priorities during the war,” said Victor Pinchuk, founder of the RECOVERY project, “This is the third centre in Dnipro. Why is it so? Firstly, it is my hometown, and more importantly, since the beginning of the war Dnipro has become the main medical hub, it is a powerful medical centre, and many wounded come here and stay for rehabilitation.”
Throughout the entire space of the RECOVERY rehabilitation centre in Dnipro, the centre is equipped to meet international standards of inclusivity: wide doorways, no thresholds, anti-slip flooring, handrails in the corridors, and inclusive toilets with space sufficient for wheelchair users.
The new centre has a spacious physical rehabilitation room with virtual reality (VR) devices that provide feedback to the patient. The centre also has rooms for individual lessons, assistive technology, psychological support, ergotherapy, electrotherapy, laser and magnetic therapy, massage rooms, rooms for medical staff and other service areas.
Innovative rehabilitation equipment and devices will be able to cover the full range of functional impairments of patients, including those sustained as a result of mine injuries. They will also help restore, in particular, walking and the lost functions of the upper and lower limbs at a high technological level.
«The equipment of our centre is state-of-the-art! The same device can be used to both restore muscle strength and correct lost cognitive skills. That’s why we can rehabilitate patients with both brain contusions and traumatic injuries of the extremities. The RECOVERY Centre is equipped with powerful equipment to provide high-quality and evidence-based rehabilitation to those who are defending our country today,” says Olga Rachyba, head of the RECOVERY Centre in Dnipro.
A multidisciplinary team of doctors will be rehabilitating patients here, as in other centres of the network. It includes specialists in physical rehabilitation medicine, physical therapists, occupational therapists, massage therapists, speech and language therapists, psychologists and others. Depending on the needs of the wounded, the team can be supplemented with other specialists.
As of today, 11 RECOVERY rehabilitation centres provide free services in Kyiv, Lviv, Rivne, Vinnytsia, Cherkasy, Khmelnytskyi, Odesa (two facilities) and Dnipro region (three facilities). In total, almost 8,000 patients have received rehabilitation care at the centres of the national network.
The national network is expected to expand to at least 16 innovative rehabilitation centres by the end of 2024. This will enable more than 20,000 patients a year to be treated.