Center of Excellence for Polytrauma is a project created by Alliance for Innovation – Polish American Foundation, Baylor College of Medicine, Państwowy Instytut Medyczny MSWiA and many other great partners. Please take a few moments to find out why we decided to create it.
“They needed support” said David B. Kaiser, an AFI Advisory Council Member to emphasize the background of the formation of Center of Excellence for Polytrauma.
The idea of creating the CoE Polytrauma was a result of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine for over a year. The number of victims of the conflict is increasing every day – and with each passing day, the demand for support in terms of prosthetics, rehabilitation, and coping with polytrauma is growing.
“In response to the huge need of Ukrainian National Guard, together with many institutions we have started this unique concept called Center of Excellence. It is comprehensive and also follows the patient after discharge for ongoing rehabilitation and prosthesis adjustment with confidence in a trained support group for an extended duration” – said David B. Kaiser.
We are acting as quickly as possible. We have already provided real help to veterans of the conflict by sponsoring prosthetics and supporting rehabilitation. However, the truth is that this is just the beginning. Our main goal is to build the CoE for Polytrauma.
The establishment of the first phase of Center of Excellence for Polytrauma project happens thanks to the collaboration of entities from many countries. One of the main partners involved in the project is Ottobock.
According to Maciej Syruś from Ottobock Poland: “We are glad that Ottobock can be part of this project and at the same time a prosthetic and rehabilitation partner. We know how important it is to help in returning to independence, help in regaining health and mobility, which is why Ottobock decided to make and fully finance the prostheses for the first two Ukrainian soldiers.”
Mihajlo Wernigor, Major of the 9th regiment of the NGU, who was awarded the Order “For Courage” III degree, is one of the first veterans we helped.
As he says:
“The opportunity to participate in this program allows you to return to a full life. I am only 34 years old and I know the best is yet to come.”
CoE will not only provide stability, innovation, and the ability to quickly cope with the effects of war and contribute to the re-establishment of care in Ukraine. The mission is to provide physical and mental rehabilitation, development of training programs for those functions, and conduct research on improvements identified from these activities. We expect the long-term goals to have an impact beyond Ukraine and extend to the Central and Eastern Europe region.
Marcin Hańczaruk, MD is a Psychiatrist, Psychotraumatologist and co-chairman of AFI. When asked about the Center of Excellence for Polytrauma, he says:
“We work with a whole community of professionals who want to help and are managed to the best standards, including those of the National Center for PTSD Veteran Affairs. We create a great opportunity for development of experts in this field. Under the Center of Excellence umbrella, they will be able to support both military and civilian victims in the future.”
We also hope that the best is yet to come. If you share this opinion and want to help build a regional Center of Excellence for civilians and veterans with some of the most complex injuries and traumas resulting from the current war in Ukraine – you can express your support by donating.
To do that, all you have to do is go to this page: https://lnkd.in/dJe3FTgh