UKRAINE’S MEDICAL SYSTEM WAS NOT READY FOR WAR.

Devastating war-related injuries are now commonplace at under-equipped and understaffed frontline hospitals and clinics. There are too few trauma surgeons who have the specialized training required to provide treatment. Join Lifting Hands International and ForPEACE in developing a mobile trauma surgery training program that will build in-country medical capacity and provide proper treatment to many more civilians with life-altering injuries that otherwise will go untreated.

A WAR-TIME TREATMENT STORY

Britta Ellwanger and her brother Dr. Aragon Ellwanger from ForPEACE recently visited a frontline hospital to assess medical needs. They met Volodymyr, a man whose jaw had been shattered by a bullet three months prior. All the doctors could do next was sew Volodymyr’s jaw shut and put him on a waiting list for more extensive treatment. By the time Britta and Aragon Ellwanger from ForPEACE met him, he’d lost 40 pounds and couldn’t eat solid foods or talk. He needed better treatment, and fast.

A United States Air Force trained oral maxillofacial surgeon with more than ten years of experience treating frontline trauma wounds, Dr. Ellwanger volunteered to perform reconstructive surgery on Volodymyr’s jaw as local surgeons watched and learned the procedures (even when limited to using a generic construction drill to reopen the patient’s jaw, much like the sort you probably have in your tool box).

While Volodymyr can open his mouth again, talk, eat food, etc., there are so many more patients with severe trauma injuries across Ukraine who will have to wait months for any sort of treatment. There just aren’t enough surgeons trained in trauma treatment. In some cases, family and friends will raise at least $80,000 for a medical evacuation to Western Europe or the USA to receive treatment, but that is a rare and unsustainable solution in the face of ongoing war.

YOU CAN HELP

The best solution is to train Ukrainian surgeons around the country in oral maxillofacial wounds and to encourage hospitals to upgrade their equipment.

Dr. Ellwanger has sourced a portable medical kit that he can take to different frontline hospitals and train local surgeons on-site in their own places of work, to treat injuries, both war-time wounds and also other more advanced routine procedures.

ForPEACE has forged strong relationships with surgeons on the frontlines who are eager to learn trauma treatment from Dr. Ellwanger. And while he has negotiated a humanitarian discount on the specialized equipment, it still costs hundreds of thousands of dollars. But, for the same cost of medical evacuations for just a handful of patients, our program will ensure that surgeons receive the necessary on-site training to provide proper treatment to hundreds of patients.

Please join Lifting Hands International and ForPEACE to fund this incredible and life-changing project, both for patients and also for medical staff in Ukraine.

THANK YOU!

LHI is a registered 501(c)(3) public charity. EIN: 81-1708977.
All gifts are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.