The medical vector of the YellowBlue Force Foundation’s activity celebrates its first anniversary! During this time, more than 300 wounded patients received advanced treatment, and the initial pilot designed to help three hospitals turned into a systemic operation for 11 medical facilities treating patients with complex war-related injuries.

We are happy to share the results from the past year and plans for effective treatment of such cases.

The idea of the first project

Part of the YBF team are specialists in the medical field, so the attention and, respectively, the aid from the international donors with whom we worked, was focused on doctors and hospitals. In the spring of 2022, the staff of facilities that were dealing with a large flow of patients with bone trauma indicated a huge need for implants for osteosynthesis.

Osteosynthesis is a method of treating complex injuries (fractures), where special metal elements are used to “bring together” the bone of the limb, fixing it and the adjacent soft tissues in the anatomically correct position. Such implants – plates, screws, rods – are used to fuse broken or displaced bones. They can be implanted temporarily or permanently. With implants, the patient retains mobility and certain functionality of the injured arm or leg even during treatment. In addition, osteosynthesis often provides a faster and better effect in restoring the limb functions and reduces the risk of re-injury due to stress.

The help that was not enough

At that time, there was a shortage of implants for the treatment of complex fractures due to several reasons:

– no national program for providing implants;
– lack of hospital funds to purchase such products;
– a significant increase in the number of patients because of hostilities and shelling of populated areas.

The available flow of foreign humanitarian aid in the form of implants often did not cover the needs of doctors: the hospital would receive these products with missing sizes, which prevented some patients from having the surgery. Also, the humanitarian aid would only contain plates, but no screws or instruments, which made it impossible to carry out the operation.

This is how the first medical project of the YBF medical vector came to be – “Implants for osteosynthesis”, preparation for which began in May 2022, and by December hospitals in Vinnytsia, Cherkasy and Uzhhorod received the first implants and instruments.

Not a unique, but efficient system

The supply of implants for osteosynthesis was not a unique solution: other foundations already provided products for the treatment of individual patients, primarily the military. But it was the YBF that offered a systematic approach that considered the needs of both patients and doctors.

In cooperation with partners from the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, our team identified and implemented a systemic solution to the problem:
– provision of hospitals with implants of all necessary sizes;
– provision of professional tools for installing the implants;
– organization of training for doctors of pilot hospitals with the involvement of the manufacturer’s experts on the use of implants selected by the Foundation;
– communication with hospitals for timely updates on the needs for products;
– organization of interaction between the supplier/producer and recipient of implants.

All this had a positive effect on the outcomes of treatment and recovery of patients.

Due to the full-scale war, military and civilians are suffering from injuries with complex bone damage. Osteosynthesis implants are an effective solution to maximize the functionality of a person with this diagnosis, to return them to a full life as much as possible. In collaboration with the Yellowblue Force Foundation, and through it with the Swedish-British pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca, Ukrainians were able to experience the benefits of modern medical technologies. Thank you for the cooperation!” – Deputy Minister of Health for Digital Development Maria Karchevych

Results of work over the past year

The project was launched with the financial support of the international company AstraZeneca. And the amount of financial support at the pilot stage was $250,000.

The project grew from three to 11 participating hospitals: Vinnytsia, Cherkasy, Uzhgorod, Kharkiv, Kyiv (two facilities), Brovary, Korostyshiv, Khmelnytskyi, Hadiach and Ivano-Frankivsk.
By the end of the year, we plan to expand the network of hospitals to 20.

300 successful operations were performed on patients who received complex limb injuries because of participation in hostilities, shelling, and mining.

The medical team has grown from one all-rounder to three specialists with many years of experience in the field of orthopaedics, surgery, medical products and equipment, and medical procurement.

– One of the important components of the project is long-term fruitful cooperation with the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, – says Iryna Tomylko, the leader of the medical vector of the Foundation’s operation. – Ministry specialists helped determine the list of real needs for implants: which products are needed, in what quantity, which medical institutions have a flow of patients with complex injuries, received because of military aggression of the russian federation. The Ministry of Health supported our project in terms of communication, providing it with attention from patients, doctors and hospital managers. In addition, the Ministry’s trust in our approach contributed to open interaction with the military administrations of the regions where the participating hospitals of the “Implants for Osteosynthesis” project are located.

Implants only are not enough

Thanks to the principle of “listening to doctors”, we discovered that, in addition to implants, for the work of doctors and effective treatment of bone trauma, the following are additionally necessary:
– bone substitutes, for cases when a part of the patient’s bone is completely missing or cannot be restored;
– special surgical cement for fixation of implanted rods;
– VAC devices used to heal patients’ wounds, often deep and infected, that cannot be closed with sutures. Preceding VAC therapy with VAC devices makes operations with implants safe for the health of patients and promotes survival of implanted elements;
– consumables for VAC therapy devices.

In September 2023, the YellowBlue Force Foundation began providing hospitals with all the necessary components to ensure a more effective treatment of the bone trauma. This became possible thanks to the partnership with Leleka Foundation (USA) and with the financial support of the international pharmaceutical company Pfizer.

You can support the project by donating on the Foundation’s website

Hospitals that want to become participants in the project can contact the medical team via email: implants@yellowblue.foundation