A researcher from Coventry University has played her part in the humanitarian effort in Ukraine by training healthcare workers and rehabilitation specialists as they care for those injured and impacted by the war with Russia.
From the very moment the invasion began, Dr Agnieszka Lewko, Assistant Professor at Coventry University’s Research Centre for Healthcare and Communities, wanted to do something to help, and in less than a month she reached out and collaborated with other experts to host an online course in first aid for those on the ground in Ukraine. The course was arranged through a collaboration with the Ukrainian Physical Therapists Association and Ukrainian Society of Ergotherapists and was soon followed by live webinars in amputee management and rehabilitation.
A programme for physiotherapists working in intensive care units was then developed as part of the charitable foundation Patients of Ukraine’s War Trauma Rehabilitation in Ukraine Initiative. This resulted in Dr Lewko and other health professionals visiting the city of Lviv to host two days of practical training, before a group of 12 physiotherapists and rehabilitation leaders from Ukraine visited Coventry University.
They took part in simulation training on physiotherapy in intensive care and attended an ‘excellence symposium’ organised by the Centre for Care Excellence for Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health – a collaboration between Coventry University and University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire (UHCW) – as well as a clinical visit to the hospital.
The Ukrainian visitors also presented their own work at a symposium organised by the Coventry University’s Research Centre for Healthcare and Communities. Dr Lewko said that the unexpected outbreak of the invasion on Ukraine created a feeling of disbelief and shock to see pictures of civilian casualties.
