Ukraine

ProsthetiKa has been sending teams of experts to Ukraine several times a year since 2015. The primary goal of the project is to help build and improve local capacity to serve prosthetic and orthotic needs within Ukraine by local Ukrainian practitioners. The experts include prosthetists, occupational therapists, and physical therapists from the US, Canada, Australia, Sweden, Great Britain, and Ukraine.

The ProsthetiKa team works hand in hand with local prosthetists and therapists to ensure that the work we do and the training we provide will continue long after we leave.

Projects included fitting of essential prosthetic devices as well as advanced technology.  For example, one project explicitly addressed the design and provision of sports prostheses for various athletic activities. That project included adaptive athletic training in running, CrossFit activities, and general conditioning exercises.

Plans include ensuring proper follow-up on the work we did on this project, undertaking future projects to train more people and fit more amputees, and helping Ukraine develop an overall plan for amputee rehabilitation.

More recently, ProsthetiKa has been working with Protez Hub, a Ukrainian non-profit, at the request of the Ukrainian ministries, to codify professional standards for prosthetists and orthotists in Ukraine and to provide advisory support for establishing university-based formal training programs and national prosthetic and orthotic competency examinations.