By Cassie Pontone | Social Media Manager for the US
At Saint Nicholas Hospital in Lviv, renovations are well underway. The hospital continues to be the center of the Unbroken Kids program and we are making great progress! Most recently, the Hospital opened a brand new pool space dedicated to rehabilitation therapies. Children in the hospital's pediatric wards now have access to regular acquatic physical therapy. The newly opened pool and gym spaces of the hospital provide multiple spaces to help our young patients recover and refine their impacted neuro-motor skills.
As the renovations continue, our plan is to develop more spaces within Saint Nicholas Hospital where pediatric patients can engage in diverse activities to rehabilitate the mind and body. The goal for Unbroken Kids is to care for an estimated 954 pediatric patients, providing them rehabilitation treatments in support of their physical and mental strength. Dedicated to physical therapy and mental health, the work of Unbroken Kids continues to be one of Soleterre’s most important and impactful projects active in Ukraine today.
The children and adolescents hospitalized at the Unbroken Kids center carry harrowing stories with them, full of the horrors of war. While the immediate focus is often directed to the physical damages, the violence these children have experienced has left less visible traces as well. The violence they have witnessed has lasting effects. Our psychologists are wary of the impact the war on their young psyches, careful to address how the violence and bloodshed they have endured seeps into their imaginations and they way they play.
Together with our partners at the First Medical Union of Lviv and the Zaporuka Foundation, Soleterre will be at these childrens' sides to lend our unending support. Our objective is to help children and adolescents to recover from serious injuries caused by the ongoing war. Their injuries range from amputations to serious wounds causing neuro-motor disabilities. Some are suffering from indirect war injuries, including burns from residual fires caused by bombings at the front. Unbroken Kids will offer continuous care for these children in renovated spaces dedicated to providing them with the therapies they need.
While Unbroken Kids is centered in Kyiv, our partnership with Saint Nicholas Hospital knows no boundaries! This November, a group of five Ukranian medical professionals visited the both San Matteo Polytechnic and Maugeri Hospitals in Pavia, Italy. Specialists in pediatric trauma medicine, these doctors completed a program alongside other professionals in their field. After a successful exchange, our Ukranian partners returned to Lviv full of energy and even more prepared to make a difference at Unbroken Kids. The exchange was made possible thanks to the financial support from Regione Lombardia and Assolombarda. Later on in December, we sent members of Soleterre's team to visit the children at Unbroken Kids and check out the renovation progress at Saint Nicholas Hospital. Our team was elated to visit the newly inaugurated pool and catch up on other exciting developments with the hospital's staff.
Thank you to our partners listed above, as well as our generous donors, without whom this important work would not be possible!
Links:
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
