In a remarkable demonstration of humanitarian commitment and resilience, Adi Roche’s Chernobyl Children International charity (CCI) has dispatched a specialised cardiac surgical team to Lviv, Ukraine, less than two weeks after the city suffered a devastating attack in which 7 people were killed.
The goal for this specialised CCI-funded Cardiac Mission is to save the lives of as many children and babies with radiation related heart-defects as possible.
Since the onset of the conflict, the healthcare system in Ukraine has faced immense challenges, with hospitals struggling to cope with the influx of wounded, the mass exodus of qualified medical personnel and the deliberate targeting of medical facilities. Many children born with congenital heart defects, such as the fatal Chernobyl Heart, have been unable to receive necessary surgical interventions, leading to a rising number of preventable deaths.
Speaking about the decision to send the brave, international team to Ukraine, CCI’s Voluntary CEO Adi Roche said;
“We are acutely aware of the challenges and dangers of operating in an active conflict zone, especially so soon after Lviv has become the new front line after recent bombings. However, the urgency of the children’s failing hearts demands immediate action. These children cannot wait, and we are committed to providing them with the life-saving care they need, whilst also keeping our team as safe as possible.”
This is the third mission that CCI have funded since the beginning of the year, which has resulted in many lives being saved and a marked increase in the local team’s skill and capacity.
On 24 February 2022, Chernobyl re-entered ‘centre stage’ for all the wrong reasons. News of the Russian invasion told of troop movement en route to Kyiv came via the world’s most toxic environment, the dreaded ‘Chernobyl Exclusion Zone’, re-releasing deeply buried toxic radioactive elements, such as Caesium 137, back into the environment. Weeks later, Russian forces retreated from Chernobyl, with soldiers suffering from acute radiation poisoning. By digging tunnels, creating bunkers and dugouts in the exclusion zone, the troops were presumably protected from enemy fire, but they were exposed to the invisible enemy – the radioactive particles they inhaled and ingested.
CCI’s Cardiac Missions, which have directly saved the lives of over 4,200 children, had traditionally been based in Kharkiv, however the teams have been chased by war from East to West following the outbreak of the war in February 2022.
In-built into CCI’s Cardiac Programme is a long-term sustainability plan, which was proven by the substantial reduction in waiting-lists and increases in positive outcomes pre-war. The educational and clinical advances that are made during the missions enable the local teams to upskill and save even more lives. In June, to further expand local clinical capacity in this unique crisis, the charity funded a tailor-made 4-day ICU training programme for the local teams, which was specially developed in collaboration with clinical partners.
