Sick Kids Foundation.
“A remarkable experience for all our doctors”
As one of the world's foremost paediatric healthcare institutions and Canada's leading centre dedicated to advancing children's health, The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto, Canada, is in a unique position to make an impact on a global level. We believe that where a child lives should not determine if they live and that we have a responsibility to extend our expertise beyond our borders.
To support this mission, SickKids established The Ukraine Paediatric Fellowship Program in 2013 in partnership with Children of Chornobyl Canadian Fund (CCCF) and Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC). Designed to foster an exchange of information, expertise and talent to build a healthier future for children in Ukraine, the program allows physicians from Ukraine to receive advanced training in specialized areas of paediatric medicine at SickKids. The physicians who participate are then able to share their knowledge and learnings with their peers upon returning to Ukraine to further help children and families.
This work is supported by $6 million in generous donations from many Ukrainian-Canadians including $1 million from CCCF and $4 million from the Temerty Family Foundation.
Ukrainian Doctors at SickKids
To date, 16 physicians have visited SickKids since the program’s inception. In November alone, we will host five doctors from Ukraine. The main focus of the program has been around neurosurgery, including brain disorders such as tumours and epilepsy in children, an area that was identified by our Ukrainian partners as one where they could further develop their skills.
While at SickKids, the doctors participate in an observership program where they watch surgeries with various specialists in their field, participate in rounds and clinic visits in an observing capacity, practice in simulation and attend lectures.
The doctors who have participated in the program have observed that collaboration plays an important role in care at SickKids. For example, in preparing for a brain tumour surgery, the neurosurgeon works closely with not just the surgical team, but also the neurologist and oncologist to carefully plan the surgery to ensure the best possible outcome for the patient.
Previous participants have made similar observations. In fact, two of them – Dr. Taras Mykytyn, a neurosurgeon, and Dr. Roman Kizyma, an oncologist – began working together more closely after seeing the benefit of a more collaborative approach to care. They have now changed their practice in Ukraine. In this way, the program is not only teaching Ukrainian doctors advanced surgical techniques and exposing them to state-of-the-art equipment; it is helping to shift the culture in Ukrainian hospitals.
Dr. Mykhailo Lovha, paediatric neurosurgeon from Lutsk was at SickKids this October and said the program was a very good experience for him personally as he had “opportunities to see many difficult cases of congenital neurological defects”. Further, he said that, “Dr. Rutka performed a lot of operations, including neurosurgery for epilepsy, which I observed and learned from.” Dr. Lovha is confident he can perform better operations today because he has seen them done at SickKids, by some of the best doctors in the world.
SickKids Advisory Trips to Ukraine
In addition to supporting visiting doctors in Toronto, the SickKids team has taken regular advisory trips to Ukraine as part of the program. To date, there have been five advisory trips including June 2013, May 2014, September 2014, June 2015 and October 2015. The focus of these trips has been on capacity building, taking the form of lectures on the most relevant topics in paediatric medicine as well as direct training and supervision of surgeons in the latest surgical techniques.
The program has expanded this year to include paediatric urology, neurology, cystic fibrosis, one of the most common genetic disorders, and perinatal maternal mental health. For the coming year the plan is to add the disciplines of neonatology and mental health to the program.
By providing Ukrainian physicians and health workers, beyond those who are able to come to SickKids for fellowships, with opportunities to learn from our experts, our life-saving knowledge spreads much faster and farther, supporting our vision: Healthier Children. A Better World.
Join Us!
On Friday, November 27, 2015, please join us for an educational evening and panel discussion to learn more about the Ukraine Paediatric Fellowship Program. You will have the opportunity to hear from Dr. Myroslava Romach, Dr. James Rutka, and three visiting doctors from Ukraine.
The discussion will be moderated by Oksana Kawun, Chair, Children of Chornobyl Canadian Fund.
We offer special thanks to Knights of Columbus Sheptytsky Council #5079 and Ukrainian Credit Union Limited for supporting the evening.
Please RSVP by Friday, November 20 at [email protected].
By: Dr. James Rutka, neurosurgeon and co-director of the Arthur and Sonia Labatt Brain Tumour Research Centre at SickKids and Dr. Myroslava Romach, medical director of the Ukraine Paediatric Fellowship Program
Share on Social Media
