📌 The first National Conference on Spinal Cord Injuries was conducted with the technical and methodological support of the International Spinal Cord Society (ISCoS) by the implementation partner Momentum Wheels for Humanity in collaboration with the Ministry of Health of Ukraine and WHO with the support of USAID, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and CBM.
✍ Rehabilitation for spinal cord injuries (SCI) refers to specialized rehabilitation care that requires specially trained personnel, specialized hospital infrastructure, and a clear referral system. It begins at the neurosurgical department and intensive care unit, where the patient's spine must be stabilized, and the person shall be transferred to a specialized rehabilitation department as soon as possible, preventing the development of complications, primarily pressure sores. Rehabilitation care during the acute rehabilitation phase should be provided by rehabilitation professionals employed at non-specialized inpatient rehabilitation departments, which are currently being created in all multi-profile supercluster and cluster hospitals of a capable network of healthcare facilities.
🔹 Subacute rehabilitation shall be provided in specialized rehabilitation centres (departments), which are now being gradually established. In these centres, the patient should be trained in wheelchair skills, intermittent catheterization, and activities of daily living, including returning to sexual activity, and prepared for planned discharge to the community where the person intends to live, work, and rest.
✅ These and other topics were discussed at the first National Conference on Spinal Cord Injuries, which took place on November 14-16, 2024, in L’viv. Leading international experts from Canada, USA, Sweden, Norway, UK, Australia, Germany, and Ireland, representing the International Spinal Cord Society (ISCoS), shared theoretical knowledge and practical skills, which are very necessary for Ukrainian rehabilitation professionals, neurosurgeons, intensive care physicians.
🔰 Ukraine already has its own good experience in providing SCI rehabilitation care, which was shared in particular by the multidisciplinary rehabilitation team from the National SCI Rehabilitation Centre, which is developing at Rivne Regional Hospital of Veterans of War of Rivne Oblast Council with the support of WHO and FCDO. Shortly, we expect the first regional SCI rehabilitation centre of the future network to be launched at the First Territorial Medical Union of L’viv - the facility that hosted the first National SCI Conference. Rehabilitation professionals from this hospital shared their experience of providing rehabilitation care for SCI patients, currently delivered at the premises of the UNBROKEN rehabilitation centre.
Jarno Habicht The International Spinal Cord Society - ISCOS Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Momentum Wheels for Humanity USAID CBM Christian Blind Mission
