TAMPA, Fla. — With the ongoing war, life in Ukraine has been hard these last few years.
Dr. Krystyna Pronuk understands it all too well.
“Before the war, I was a specialist in infection diseases, associate professor in National Medical University, but when the war started, I was mobilized, so when I’m out, I’m in active duty out working with our soldiers,” said Dr. Pronuk.
The challenges of a doctor are hard to imagine.
“Lack of trained people, that’s actually why we’re here, to be more trained, and I also think that we can train our doctors so pass to them all that information that we’ll get here,” said Pronuk.
For the week, she’s thousands of miles from home, now in Tampa as the Tampa VA hosts a group of doctors from Ukraine to learn more about polytrauma rehabilitation.
Polytrauma is related to blast or explosion-type injuries where you get multiple trauma from one event, like a head injury, amputation, or burns.
“The numbers and volumes of people that need rehabilitation in their country is overwhelming,” said Dr. Steven Scott, the Chief of Rehabilitation Medicine at the James A. Haley Veteran’s Hospital.
Dr. Scott shared some of the cutting-edge technology.
“The advanced orthotics and prosthetic devices that they can now walk. They couldn’t walk,” said Dr. Scott. “The communication aids that they can talk, but they couldn’t talk. These exoskeletons that you can learn to walk when you can’t walk, and then a lot of electronic things like 3D printing, virtual reality.”
While doctors in Tampa pass on their knowledge, they’re picking up pieces of information in return.
“We want to learn what types of injuries they see because of the new weapons systems that are being used in warfare,” said Dr. Scott. “It helps us too in our state of readiness that we always want to be ready to serve our country at any time.”
The hope is that this help will better equip these doctors as the war carries on.
“It’s a really very great opportunity to get some experience, some new technologies, methods of rehabilitation, and treatment of our soldiers,” said Dr. Pronuk.
In less than two months, more than 100 people have contacted the ABC Action News I-Team, saying they are stuck waiting on unemployment benefits and are growing more desperate by the day.
