Category: Humanitarian/Medical

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Uncategorized Civil Society Community/Education Humanitarian/Medical News

CUF President announces inaugural members of CUF Advisory Council

CUF leadership has recognized that we have individuals in Canada, Ukraine and other parts of the world who can be resources to CUF without formally joining its board. We have had guest members on some of our committees and this continues to this day. To build on our depth of understanding in the various areas of our program and project work, the CUF board recently approved the creation of an advisory council, to “provide strategic and other sector specific advice to the President, the Board, the Executive and other Board Committees of CUF on matters and areas of activity undertaken by CUF.” From time to time, we will announce new advisory council members to support CUF priorities.
Today, I am delighted to announce the inaugural members of the Canada-Ukraine Foundation Advisory Council. They are subject matter experts, leaders and influencers in their respective fields, and our board and committees look forward to acquiring guidance and inspiration in their areas of expertise, as well as augmenting our youth engagement and succession planning capabilities.

Education Advisory Council

Sergiy Kvit, an expert and a commentator on educational issues, currently is the Head of the National Agency for Higher Education Quality Assurance and a professor of Kyiv-Mohyla School of Journalism. In 2002-07, he was a Dean of the Faculty of Social Studies Faculty at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. He founded the Kyiv-Mohyla School of Journalism in 2001 and became a President of the Media Reform Centre, set up to initiate open debate and promote more transparent media and government. In 2005-2011, he was a Chairman of the Consortium of University Autonomy. He has been rector (president) of the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy from 2007 until 2014. Serhiy Kvit occupied the position of the Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine in 2014-2016 when progressive Laws “On Higher Education” (2014) and “On Scientific and Scientific-Technical Activity” (On Science and Research, 2015) were adopted. In 2015, Sergiy Kvit signed an agreement that allowed Ukrainian scientists and businesses to fully participate in Horizon 2020 (H2020), the European Union’s flagship research program. Dr. Kvit’s research focuses on educational and media reforms, mass communications, and philosophical hermeneutics; he has published several books and numerous articles. He has a Ph.D. from the Ukrainian Free University (Germany) and a doctorate in philology. He held Fulbright scholarship at Ohio University and Stanford University, Kennan Institute scholarship at the Woodrow Wilson International Centre in Washington, DC and a DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) scholarship at the University of Cologne.

Anna Novosad, served as Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine from August 2019 till March 2020. On her position managed to roll out systemic reform of higher education funding and governance, and successfully lobbied for endorsement of the new Law on general secondary education, which allowed to continue the general school reform. Prior to the Ministerial post Anna held different positions at the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine. At various times she served as a counsellor to the Minister, head of international relations and head of strategic planning and European integration, where she expanded the EU-Ukraine cooperation in science and education and accomplished the Ukraine’s association to the Horizon 2020 program. Anna joined the public service in 2014, after the Ukrainian Revolution of Dignity. In 2019 was elected as a member of Ukrainian Parliament. Currently remains in education sector in expert role. Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Program 2013 alumni. US State Department Hubert Humphrey Fellowship Program fellow 2021-2022. Holds MA degree in Analyzing Europe from the Maastricht University, the Netherlands, and BA degree in Political Science from the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in Ukraine.

Healthcare Advisory Council

Dr. Oleh Antonyshyn is a Professor in the Division of Plastic Surgery at the University of Toronto, with a subspecialty practice in craniomaxillofacial surgery. He earned his medical degree from the University of Toronto in 1980, and completed his surgical residency at the University of Western Ontario in 1985. Following his certification in Plastic Surgery, he pursued an additional 4 years of subspecialty fellowship training in craniofacial surgery including a traveling fellowship in Europe and Mexico City. Dr Antonyshyn began his clinical practice in The Division of Plastic Surgery at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1989, where he established a pediatric and adult craniofacial program. In 1992, he assumed the position of Head, Division of Plastic Surgery, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, and in 1996, established the Adult Craniofacial Program to address the specific needs of adult patients with post-traumatic and post-ablative craniofacial deformities. Dr. Antonyshyn is an Associate Scientist, Imaging and Trauma Research at Sunnybrook Research Institute. His research focus is in 3D craniofacial computer assisted modeling and design. He is a cofounder and partner in a surgical device startup company called Calavera Surgical Design. Dr Antonyshyn is actively engaged in humanitarian surgery initiatives and global surgery education. April 2014, he travelled to Ukraine as part of a Medical Needs Assessment team to assess the capacity to manage trauma following Maidan. Since then, he has led 6 Canadian surgical missions to Ukraine, to teach and perform reconstructive procedures in both civilian and military war casualties. Feb 2016, he received the Order of Merit from the president of Ukraine, and Nov 2018, he was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal by the Governor General of Canada for his efforts. January 2019 Dr Antonyshyn launched the Sunnybrook Ukraine Surgery Education Partnership.

Youth Engagement Advisory Council

Roman Grod is the Past President of SUSK and the Vice President of the World Congress of Ukrainian Youth Organizations. Roman holds a degree in Economics from Wilfred Laurier University and is currently employed as the Lead Analyst, Canadian Markets at Rodan Energy Solutions a leading North American energy management company. Prior to his current role Roman served on the SUSK board of directors for 4 years, as Alumni Director, Treasurer, and for his last two years as President. Roman’s key highlights as president were the launch of SUSK Connect, global education on the current situation in Ukraine, continuing to grow the SUSK endowment, national Holodomor advocacy, creating a space for Ukrainian Students across the country to get involved and much more. In 2021 Roman was nominated as one of the top 30under30, which recognized emerging Ukrainian diaspora youth leaders under 30.

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Humanitarian/Medical News Save A Life Ukraine Uncategorized

UKRAINE COVID-19 PANDEMIC RESPONSE PROGRAM

Located in the epicentre of Europe’s latest COVID-19 surge, Ukraine now ranks third in the world for daily COVID-19 mortality. The country continues to record daily highs of new infections and deaths, resulting in adaptive quarantine measures throughout most of Ukraine. The situation in Ukraine has stressed Ukraine’s medical system to the breaking point, particularly in eastern Ukraine, where hospital congestion is the highest in the country at almost 90%. More than 80,000 deaths and more than 3 million infections have been recorded in Ukraine. Of those patients that were hospitalized with COVID-19, 94.2% were found to be unvaccinated.

Ukraine is dealing with persistent challenges while attempting to implement adaptive quarantine and other public-health measures. Widespread vaccine skepticism, fueled by domestic misinformation and foreign disinformation flowing from malign actors such as the Russian Federation, has created numerous challenges for Ukraine’s Ministry of Health. In addition, the Ukrainian government has had to implement stiff criminal penalties for anyone caught with falsified vaccination certification owing to lucrative black market schemes. With less than 20% of its population fully vaccinated, Ukraine has one of the lowest COVID-19 vaccination rates in Europe.

In response to this crisis, the Canada-Ukraine Foundation has launched the “UKRAINE COVID-19 PANDEMIC RESPONSE PROGRAM” to raise $125,000 for targeted assistance in Ukraine.

The UKRAINE COVID-19 PANDEMIC RESPONSE PROGRAM comprises the following three projects:

•      CUF is continuing to support and expand the delivery of oxygen therapy to COVID-19 patients   through our partners in Ukraine. In addition to the original CUF purchase of 20 Oxygen (O2) concentrators and 3 continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) devices, the expansion now includes  the procurement of 17 additional O2 concentrators, 7 CPAP devices, consumable oxygen masks, personal protective equipment, and other operating costs.

•     CUF plans to support pandemic relief of the hospital network in the city of Dnipro, Ukraine, by covering the freight costs of a 40-foot shipping container from Denver, USA, to Dnipro. The container will be stocked with donated ICU beds, oxygen-therapy supplies and other critical medical equipment. 

•      CUF is also planning an expansion of its ongoing COVID-19 pandemic relief to Eastern Ukraine with input from the World Health Organization (WHO) Health Cluster and the United Nations’ Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA).  

The Canada-Ukraine Foundation has allocated $25,000 USD from its reserves to start the campaign and encourages the Ukrainian-Canadian and Ukrainian-American communities to contribute to this critical program, thus providing rapid and effective assistance to those in critical condition.

Organizations, corporations and individuals are welcome to support CUF in this effort with financial or relevant material donations. Contributions may be made online at CUF’s donation page  or by contacting the Canada-Ukraine Foundation.

Donations are welcome from worldwide sources. At this time we are able to provide charitable tax receipts for Canadian and US donors.

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Civil Society Humanitarian/Medical News

CUF supports humanitarian demining in Ukraine: “Let’s Clean Donbas Together” Project

The Canada-Ukraine Foundation (CUF) announced on November 5, 2021, its support of a project to demine agricultural lands in Eastern Ukraine to make them available for use by the local citizens. CUF has donated $13,000 USD to support the “Let’s Clean Donbas Together” project mounted by the Ukrainian Deminers Association (UDA). The European Union is also contributing 40% of the total project cost towards this critical initiative.

“We at the Canada-Ukraine Foundation understand the great significance that demining of arable lands has for the local civilian population living in demilitarized zones. These lands provide them with the ability to feed their families and sell their surplus harvest for their livelihoods” – said Major (Retired) Oksana Kuzyshyn, CD1, Chief Operating Officer and Chair of the Civil Society Committee at the Canada-Ukraine Foundation. “This project will also help raise the profile of the landmine issue in Ukraine and bring it to broader public attention and the attention of the Ukrainian government for funding”.

The war in Donbas has resulted in large swaths of lands seeded with land mines, thus rendering them useless and dangerous for citizens living in the region. Some 21,000 km2 of land have been so armed; 7,000 km2. in Ukrainian controlled regions and 14,000 km2 currently under Russian Federation proxy control. Although the Ukrainian Armed Forces have demined some areas for their specific purposes, local inhabitants have no safe access to the remaining lands and are left to their own devices, many nonprofessional and dangerous. These lands represent an untapped resource that has added to the region’s economic deprivation and physical hardship.

The Ukrainian Deminers Association (UDA) had approached the Canada-Ukraine Foundation (CUF) to participate in the very important work of helping to demine land surrounding two villages, thereby releasing the lands for agricultural use. The UDA is a Ukrainian NGO established in 2018 to help reclaim some of these unusable mined lands and raise awareness among the population of the dangers inherent in living in a heavily mined territory. The group proposed to clear some 200,000 m2 of land surrounding the villages of the Mariupol region in the Donetsk Oblast, with a combined population of 21,000. This pilot project will raise awareness of the local population regarding land mines and will give them access to cultivate and harvest these otherwise unusable lands.

“The ‘Let’s Clean Donbas Together’ project is about human life and socio-economic revival of a region in Eastern Ukraine. It’s also about Ukrainian deminers. Moreover, this project brings the attention of the public and the world community to the current problem of Ukrainians. We truly thank the Canadian-Ukrainian Foundation for its vital support” – said Tymur Pistriuha, Executive Director and Head of the Ukrainian Deminers Association.

CUF will continue to raise funds for the “Let’s Clean Donbas Together” project. Organizations, corporations, and individuals are welcome to support this effort to the CUF General Fund with the “Let’s Clean Donbas Together” project in the memo or by contacting the Canada-Ukraine Foundation.

More photos (photo credit: “Ukrainian Deminers Association”)

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News Humanitarian/Medical Save A Life Ukraine

“Oxygen for Life” Program to Help Vulnerable with Critical Pandemic Medical Equipment – CUF Supporting Ukraine COVID Relief

The Canada-Ukraine Foundation (CUF) announced on October 1, 2021, a donation to help fight the impacts of COVID-19 in Ukraine, particularly hard hit by the fourth wave of the global pandemic. Together with partners League of Ukrainian Canadians, Dnipro-Oshawa Fund at BCU Foundation, and the Ukrainian National Federation, CUF committed a $30,000 CAD donation to support the “Oxygen for Life” Phase 2 program mounted by Kyiv-based civil society organization Initiative E+.

Transparency International has noted an acute shortage of hospital beds in Ukraine, with many COVID-19 patients not receiving required oxygen support, being discharged with low oxygen-saturation levels, and without provision of oxygen concentrators for self-management, due to shortages of equipment. 

Kyiv-based Initiative E+, which specializes in humanitarian and charitable work across Ukraine, created the “Oxygen for Life” program at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, aiming to dramatically improve the lives of vulnerable patients recovering from COVID and other respiratory comorbidities. Supported by community volunteers, Initiative E+ operates an oxygen therapy support and exchange program with the goal of addressing critical equipment shortages, and assisting patients recovering from COVID-19. The project is particularly designed to support remote communities and vulnerable populations struggling with limited access to oxygen therapy support.

CUF’s sponsorship will allow Initiative E+ to procure twenty oxygen concentrators, thus boosting its inventory of the life-saving devices by fifty percent.

Direct beneficiaries of this project will include hospitals and rural ambulatory clinics, seniors with difficulty accessing medical care, patients recovering from COVID in remote areas or with respiratory comorbidities, and long-term care residents.

“The monumental effort and delivery of oxygen and life-saving equipment from the Canada-Ukraine Foundation is desperately required,” stated Dr. John M. Quinn V, MD, MPh, PhD, expert in health diplomacy and health security, and Alumnus Scholar at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies. “The unfortunate vaccine hesitancy and scattered vaccine uptake against COVID-19 evidenced with the well-below-target penetrance in almost all regions make the Delta/Delta+ variants major threats to health and growing risk to a never-ending pandemic crisis in Ukraine. The requirement for life-saving oxygen therapy throughout ICUs, hospitals and clinics can be filled with the stopgap of oxygen concentrator support.”

CUF’s goal is to support, fund and manage humanitarian, economic development, governance, and rule of law projects that focus on Ukraine. Its humanitarian missions support a reinforcement of Ukraine’s medical reform and sustainable medical development. CUF’s medical initiatives favour local projects that provide immediate assistance, benefit the most vulnerable, and will have a lasting impact. Accordingly, all equipment obtained through CUF’s sponsorship will be donated to Ukrainian medical facilities in need of oxygen therapy augmentation, post-pandemic.

“This is a prime example of how the robust Canada-Ukraine relationship, and the strong people-to-people networks between our countries can make a real difference,” said Orest Sklierenko, President and CEO of the Canada-Ukraine Foundation. “We’re proud we can identify worthwhile, lifesaving projects, complete a thorough due diligence efficiently, and deploy resources in time to make a material impact on real people’s lives. This project fits squarely in CUF’s mission and vision as demonstrated for more than 25 years.”

CUF will continue to raise funds to cover the operational expenses of the “Oxygen for Life” project, such as fuel for equipment delivery, oxygen filter replacements, and accountability monitoring. Organizations, corporations and individuals are welcome to support CUF in this effort with financial or relevant material donations. Contributions may be made online at CUF’s donation page for Medical Missions or by contacting the Canada-Ukraine Foundation.

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Humanitarian/Medical

After a Year of Care in Canada, Triple Amputee Returns to Ukraine

In 2015, Mykola Nyzhnykovskyi arrived in Canada a triple amputee. He returned to Ukraine a year later a “cyborg.”

That’s what his sister called him after seeing him outfitted with state-of-the-art prosthetic legs and arms he’s now using thanks to the hard work and generosity of a diverse group of Canadians.

W5 first met the 11 year old Mykola in Kyiv while reporting on the work of Canadian medical professionals who volunteered to treat victims of the war that’s been raging in Ukraine’s east since 2014.

*Triple amputee Mykola Nyzhnykovskyi plays table top hockey with Montreal Canadiens forward Brendan Gallagher (Brett Mitchell / W5)

At that time, Canadian surgeons removed shrapnel that had been lodged in Mykola’s face months earlier in a deadly blast that took his brother’s life. The boys had been fooling around with an unexploded munition left carelessly on an artillery range in the village of Volodarske about fifty kilometres from the front line of the military conflict.

Mykola was one of dozens of patients treated during the wartime medical missions organized by the Canada Ukraine Foundation (CUF). When Shriners Children’s Hospital in Montreal learned about Mykola’s plight, they decided to extend a healing hand to the child.

What followed was a year of care in Montreal, as Mykola and his mother Alla made the journey to a distant land whose language they did not speak.

Nine different medical specialists tended to his many ailments, more than five hundred hours of care were dedicated to his recovery, led by Shriners’ Chief of Staff Dr. Reggie Hamdy.

His physiotherapist, Rochelle Rein, recalled first meeting Mykola: “He was kind of curled into himself. Hard to express, but he was just very alone,” she told W5’s Victor Malarek.

Occupational therapist Sarah Cachecho had the job of helping right-handed Mykola learn to use his left hand and a new prosthetic arm. By the end of his year in Montreal, his progress was remarkable. Mykola had grown bigger, stronger and more determined than ever to master his prosthetics and walk again.

“Mykola can now dress himself, feed himself, brush his teeth, do whatever someone has to do in their daily life,” Cachecho said.

Krystina Waler, CUF’s director of humanitarian initiatives, says Mykola is very fortunate, because he’d never had received the same level of care in Ukraine.

“Rehabilitation there would have been non-existent, the physiotherapy, the occupational therapy,” Waler explained.

Shriners covered all the medical costs, while CUF arranged accommodations, travel, food and translators through donations and volunteer work.

“To watch life being brought back into him has been an amazing journey and I can’t wait to continue watching it,” said Waler.

Mykola and Alla returned to Ukraine in late 2016, but the Canadians are not done with him yet. He’ll be back at Shriners in Montreal every year for check-ups and new fittings for his prosthetics. And the doctors of CUF’s fifth medical mission to Kyiv in February 2017 will continue working on the scars on Mykola’s face.

Nobody can bring his brother Danyo back, but Canadian generosity and hospitality did help bring back two things that weren’t there when W5 first met Mykola: hope and a smile.

Steve Bandera, W5 Associate Producer
Published Friday, February 3, 2017
Please click here to see online CTV news report

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Humanitarian/Medical News

New Branches for Dzherelo in Lviv

Dzherelo Children’s Rehab Centre in Lviv is growing new branches. No longer will all programs be provided from the one centre on Chervonoyi Kalyny Avenue. Dzherelo is expanding and developing its programming for children with special needs by getting ready to establish a sixth satellite branch!

For over 25 years, Dzherelo Children’s Rehabilitation Centre has been operating as an independent facility in Lviv, focusing on the consultation, rehabilitation treatment, education and counselling of both children with special needs and their families. For too long, many of these children had been hidden from mainstream society, locked up in homes and prevented from attending school. So, while Ukraine’s education system is slowly adapting to inclusive education close to special needs students’ homes, Dzherelo is also making strides in this direction. The new Dzherelo satellite branches are located in residential neighbourhoods outside the Lviv city centre, offering services closer to the homes where the children live. These new satellite projects are necessary to reduce the stressful, costly and lengthy travel time and ultimately improve families’ quality of life.

The Dzherelo team is constantly working on updating and improving their programs. Since 2018, they have opened five satellite branches of Dzherelo in different areas of Lviv city. The satellites and expansion of programs are only possible with the City Council’s financial help, other government levels, and community fundraising. Together, with each partner’s contribution, it becomes possible to renovate, furnish, and install the facilities’ special equipment. Only then can the staff, trained at Dzherelo, begin taking in and integrating the children planning to attend.

With five branch satellites operating, the next challenge is expanding the Dzherelo Centre’s programs by opening branch No.6 in Vynnyky (a suburb of Lviv).  The facility will have a total area of nearly 300 square meters and offer daycare programs for ten younger children plus ten youths with special needs living nearby. The availability of services close to home is paramount for the children and their families health and welfare.

Lviv City Council had made a specific funding decision to allocate an appropriate building for use by Dzherelo. The local city administration provided such a building, and in due course, other government levels were also committed to funding the costs involved in building improvements and specific adaptations.  

Dzherelo satellite branch No.6 now requires about $23,000 (500 thousand hryvnias) to furnish the premises with specially adapted furniture, a projector, a computer, some mobile and ceiling lifts. 

To ensure this funding and the completion of this expansion project, Canadian donors have volunteered to supply the required portion of the costs, as indicated by the Lviv Regional (Oblast) Council’s budget proposal.  Druzi Dzherela, through the Canada-Ukraine Foundation (CUF), is committed to providing the promised community contribution funds.

You can donate to this worthwhile project through Druzi Dzherela in Toronto with the Canada-Ukraine Foundation’s help. Your generosity will ensure the successful and timely completion of Dzherelo satellite branch No.6 for the benefit of Lviv’s special children!

For more information about Dzherelo, please view their website at  www.dzherelocentre.org.ua.

To donate, contact the Canada-Ukraine Foundation at  https://www.cufoundation.ca/dzherelo-childrens-rehabilitation-centre/ 

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Humanitarian/Medical News

Health Advisory Committee Update

The Canada-Ukraine Foundation’s (CUF) Health Advisory Team (HAT) aims to be the partner of choice for Ukrainian healthcare institutions, NGOs, and various levels of government health ministries to build capability and capacity within Ukrainian healthcare systems and communities. Through CUF supported and sponsored programs and projects, we promote health by enabling organizations, healthcare practitioners and healthcare promotion advocates to improve the healthcare in the communities that they serve.

The Health Advisory Team was responsible for supporting and implementing a number of critical health initiatives in 2019-2020. Through its collaborations, partnerships and initiatives it was able to bring such programs as the Sunnybrook Ukraine Surgical Educational initiative formalized in September 2019, to hospitals in Lviv, Ukraine.

This three-year initiative partners the Sunnybrook Health Science Centre (through the support of the Sunnybrook Foundation and its donors, in particular, the Temerty Foundation and Ihnatowycz Foundations), Canada-Ukraine Foundation, and three hospitals in Lviv to provide education and training to medical specialists in Ukraine. Dr. Oleh Antonyshyn leads a team of surgeons, anesthesiologists and nurses in providing education and training to medical specialists in Ukraine in the fields of microsurgery, craniofacial reconstruction and upper extremity reconstruction.

The program is delivered through advisory missions, live surgery demonstrations, and focused symposia, workshops and educational observerships. The first mission was conducted in October 2019 with a team of six specialists The Canadian team together, with their Ukrainian colleagues completed a total of 25 surgical procedures on patients ranging from 9 to 65 years of age. As part of the program, 138 participants, from various disciplines and from all parts of Ukraine participated in a nationwide symposium covering topics in craniofacial surgery and microsurgery organized by the Canadian team. In addition to the training provided, 460kg of medical equipment and supplies valued at $250,000 CAD was left at the hospitals for their use.

The novel coronavirus pandemic disrupted plans to launch the second mission but work is on-going to develop the initiative and implement new programs.

The pandemic restrictions brought to light other needs that CUF was able to address and support. At the start of the quarantine almost 50,000 children were sent home from orphanages “Internaty” to their biological families who were ill-equipped to welcome their children home. CUF in cooperation with Help Us Help and supported by Ukrainian Canadian Congress and MEEST and in partnership with the Ombudsman for Children with the President of Ukraine provided food and hygiene kits to 250 families in the Zhytomyr Oblast whose children were sent home due to the pandemic.

The ultimate goal of the project was to help facilitate deinstitutionalization reforms in the country that will ensure every child grows up with their family or in a similar family-like setting.

Around the globe, the pandemic is first and foremost on everyone’s mind, but the ongoing war with Russia in Eastern Ukraine isn’t far from our thoughts. The war has left thousands of Ukrainian Veterans with physical and mental trauma that the country’s health system is trying to treat. Through a generous donation by the Dnipro Cultural Centre Oshawa Fund, CUF was able to support the psychological treatment of 50 female veterans and soldiers at The Center of Psychological Counseling & Traumatherapy “Open Doors”. At the start of the project, the mental health specialists at The Open Doors Center in Kyiv provided in-person treatment to the patients, but with the pandemic, they were able to adapt to the restrictions and provide on-line services as well as treatment in the military hospital for those hospitalized. 

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Humanitarian/Medical

Ukraine 2020 Flood Relief Appeal

Ukraine 2020 Flood Relief Appeal

The Canada Ukraine Foundation (CUF) and the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) are calling on all Canadians to support relief efforts in Ukraine, where heavy flooding has caused devastation. The response is complicated by the current Covid-19 pandemic. 

 

Click Here To Donate
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Humanitarian/Medical News Uncategorized

CUF’s marathon in helping Ukraine continues

By New Pathway -Dec 24, 2019

Yuri Bilinsky, New Pathway – Ukrainian News.

The Berlin wall came down 30 years ago but psychologically it still shapes the economic and political lives of the people in Eastern Germany. Canada-Ukraine Foundation’s President Victor Hetmanczuk provided this example of how long societal change can take under the best of circumstances, at the UCC’s XXVI Congress in Ottawa in November.

The war in Ukraine has gone for six years and we do not know how long this war will continue, Victor Hetmanczuk said. When the war does end, how long is it going to take us to come up with a meaningful plan to help the people in Luhansk and Donetsk oblast? Are Ukrainians willing to pay a 5.5% solidarity tax that the Germans still pay to subsidize the construction of an equal society in Eastern Germany? Will the Ukrainian diaspora agree to pay a 5.5% tax to help rebuild the Donbas? Who is going to invest an amount comparable to $3 trillion that has been invested into Eastern Germany since late 1980s?

All these questions, which Victor Hetmanczuk posed in his speech at the Humanitarian Aid for Ukraine workshop during the Congress, demonstrate the magnitude of the problems facing Ukraine. These problems won’t be solved with band-aids, it’s going to be a marathon, he said.

This marathon for the Canada-Ukraine Foundation started in 1995 when CUF was established as a National Charitable Public Foundation. Between 2014-2018, CUF conducted 114 projects in Canada and Ukraine. Over these five years, CUF collected more than CAD 9.6 million ($4.9 million were provided by federal and provincial governments). This kind of financing puts CUF among the biggest charitable donors of Ukraine-related projects globally.

Medical supplies provided by CUF

The Foundation is also active in Canada. In 2018, it was successful in obtaining new grants for the Holodomor Bus: $1.5 million from the Federal Government and $750,000 from the Ontario Trillium Foundation. Since the start of the Bus Tour in 2015, around 53 thousand people visited the Bus.

The Canadian Holodomor Bus project has had its repercussions even for Ukraine. During the Toronto Reform Conference in July 2019, President Zelenskyy and his wife visited the Bus at the Holodomor Monument in the CNE grounds. It made an impact on them to the point of further meetings were held in Kyiv recently that could lead to a draft Memorandum of Understanding about CUF’s participation in the building and programming of a similar bus for Ukraine.

The Holodomor Tour Bus in Ottawa

CUF has as its charitable objectives relief of poverty, advancement of education, health care and religion, assisting in observation of elections and other purposes beneficial to the community.

In Ukraine, CUF’s medical mission has consisted of the following: surgical missions, upgrading of medical skills, assistance for the Dzherelo Rehabilitation Centre, dental program for orphans and PTSD support for veterans.

Dzherelo Rehabilitation Centre

CUF’s Ukrainian medical missions have just seen a significant extension. The Foundation has signed a three-year agreement with the Sunnybrook Health Science Centre to participate in the Sunnybrook Ukraine Surgery Education Partnership located in Lviv. Within the partnership, there will be master classes for surgeons, a symposium and an observership in Toronto. In October 2019, on the first mission, 26 patients had operations done in three operation rooms simultaneously, while 138 doctors attended the one-day symposium.

Within CUF’s Ukrainian dental program, 427 orphaned children were examined and received 448 dental appointments where they had 720 dental fillings and numerous other treatments. 47 professionals and volunteers from Ukraine were involved in this program.

CUF’s Ukrainian dental program

The Defenders of Ukraine projects in 2018 were funded by the Ukrainian Canadian Congress National from the proceeds of the Invictus Games event in Toronto in 2018. These projects included Ukrainian Social Academy for “Boots to Business” entrepreneurship training program for veterans and funding for the Donbas ATO Veterans Union and Centre Poruch for psychological support of veterans and their families. The Defenders of Ukraine projects also funded the Veterans House for ATO veterans providing temporary shelter and rehabilitation programs. Pobratymy and Dopomoha Ukraini organizations funded the training in overcoming combat shock trauma and preventing PTSD for veterans.

CUF expects that its revenue in 2019 will amount to $2.3M. These funds will help the Foundation remain the focal point of the Ukrainian Canadian community’s assistance to Ukraine. One of the UCC Congress’ resolutions reads that the UCC will continue to support and augment Canadian humanitarian assistance to Ukraine through the existing mandate of the Canada-Ukraine Foundation. CUF will collaborate with UCC to coordinate, promote, help prioritize and maximize the effectiveness of aid to Ukraine. UCC’s provincial councils are encouraged to communicate to their membership CUF’s mission and objectives. Member organizations of UCC are also encouraged to access the CUF advisory groups for information, guidance and assistance.

The Foundation’s marathon in helping Ukraine overcome its hardships is continuing.

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Humanitarian/Medical

DZHERELO CHILDREN’S REHABILITATION CENTRE

Operating as an independent rehabilitation facility, Dzherelo Centre is committed to consultation, rehabilitation treatment, education and counseling of both children with disabilities and their families. The process includes early referral, assessment and implementation of an individualized treatment plan by an integrated team of qualified professionals. To read more

The Dzherelo Children’s Rehabilitation Centre provides a comprehensive program of educational and rehabilitation services to children and youth with cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and other developmental disabilities.

Created as an alternative to the state-run institutions, or “internats”, and operating as a charitable non-profit facility, the Centre is a pioneer and model in its field not only in the city of Lviv, but in all of Ukraine.

Dzherelo is helping to build an inclusive society that welcomes people with special needs, respects their dignity and rights, appreciates their unique gifts, and provides them with opportunities to realize their full potential. 

At Dzherelo Centre a broad spectrum of educational and rehabilitation programs are offered to children and youth in three main areas:

Child Development Clinic (0-18 years of age)

Physical and psychological rehabilitation services are provided during individual and group sessions. “Early Intervention”  (0-4 years) offers assesment and implementation of a comprehensive rehabilitation program by an integrated team of qualified specialists. Families receive guidance and much needed psychological support.

Kindergarten and School (3-18 years of age)

Daily activities are conducted according to an individualized learning plan in a fully accessible environment. Children receive psychological support, speech therapy, access to alternative methods of communication, physical therapy, equine therapy, hydrotherapy and participate in cultural and recreational activities. The program also prepares children for inclusion into the regular school system.

Workshops for Youth (18-35 years of age)

Young people participate actively in programs promoting life-skills and social adaptation, creative expression and vocational training. In a friendly, nurturing environment, youth are encouraged to develop their hidden talents and grow in confidence and self-esteem. Excursions, nature walks, themed celebrations and social events are also a part of the program.