Ukrainians benefit from U.S. prosthetics expertise
Ukraine sees a high number of upper limb amputees as a result of the war
When Eric Ramcharran, an American prosthetist with over 30 years of experience was discussing with Antonina Kumka, president of Protez Hub how to best deliver one much needed upper prosthetic component to a prosthetic clinic in Ukraine, a decision to organize a mission arose spontaneously.
“Mr Ramcharran has already been to Ukraine in 2016. He traveled there on a training mission organized in partnership with Prosthetika and the goal was to share expertise with Ukrainian colleagues. This time Eric and I came up with a plan within half an hour and started working towards its realization” - Antonina Kumka recalls.
Due to the Russian war on Ukraine, many Ukrainians have lost limbs and some amputations are rather complex and require a high level of competence in manufacturing a prosthesis that would be both comfortable and functional. Even though Ukraine has several experienced and highly trained upper limb specialists, there is a need for more. So Americans decided to help to both fit the amputees with complex cases of amputations and share their expertise so more Ukrainians are able to do the job.
American prosthetists decide to help Ukrainians
A team of three experienced American prosthetists and one occupational therapist was assembled and traveled to Ukraine for a week. The team traveled as volunteers. The project was organized and sponsored by: Protez Hub, Nova Ukraine, Patients of Ukraine, Airlink and UNDP Ukraine.
“This has been a wonderful experience helping the wounded as well as helping the local prosthetists learn the current technology to support this need here. Everyone here has helped all of us to accomplish much this week. I would love to be involved again. It is refreshing for me to be able to support this cause and continue my enjoyment of helping others with upper limb loss since my retirement in 2021.” - shared Jean William Limehouse, an experienced American upper limb prosthetist.
“The experience has been rewarding. The hours were long and very busy, but everyone at the clinic was supportive, eager to help and learn, and we were able to accomplish a lot. To see the reactions of these wounded Ukrainians when they realized they could actually hold things and operate their prosthetic hands, to see in their eyes the realization that they could do much more than they thought was priceless.” - said Brett Saunders, another experienced American CPO, who traveled to Ukraine to help.
“We are truly grateful to our American colleagues for helping us fit the complex cases of upper limb amputations and sharing their expertise with us. Such exchanges are very useful and everyone benefits from them. We are also grateful to the organizers and sponsors for making this happen” - said Oksana Lytvynenko, an experienced upper limb CPO.
Protez Hub is an organization whose mandate is the sustainable development of the prosthetic and orthotic industry in Ukraine. We serve as a bridge for national and international industry stakeholders. We organize professional exchanges, participate in policy development and provide quality information to Ukrainian amputees.