Dear Colleagues:
With the utmost concern, the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) is following the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Ukraine, which has already resulted in tremendous injury, suffering, and the loss of human life.
As a medical association, we are fully committed to reducing human suffering from injury, trauma, and disease – anywhere in the world. We encourage all interested AAOS Members to offer help and support, in any way they can, to assist those in the medical community in Ukraine to care for the injured.
Find updated information regarding the needs of our orthopaedic colleagues in Ukraine (3/30/2022)
Several communities and healthcare institutions are already organizing efforts to support medical relief to Ukraine. For example, we are aware that Yevhen Pavelko, MD, a surgeon with the University of Illinois at Chicago and Chairman of the Humanitarian Committee of the Ukrainian Medical Association of North America (UMANA), is coordinating an effort to send medicines and medical equipment to Ukraine.
With many members inquiring about how they can help, we share this resource summary, which identifies humanitarian organizations, including the effort noted above, that are already working in the region to make an impact and are actively seeking monetary and/or medical supply donations to help in the region.
We continue to keep the people of Ukraine in our thoughts and prayers and thank you for whatever support you can provide to ease the human suffering of this escalating tragedy. As events unfold and we hear more from our colleagues in the region, we will update the membership on future needs and opportunities to assist.
Sincerely,
Daniel K. Guy, MD, FAAOS
President, AAOS
Coleen S. Sabatini, MD, MPH, FAAOS
Chair, AAOS International Committee
As follow-up to our earlier message regarding Ukraine, I have updated information regarding the needs of our orthopaedic colleagues there. Additionally, we have confirmed a process for shipping supplies to Ukraine and having them distributed to designated trauma hospitals.
Based on our communications with the leadership of the Ukrainian Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons (https://uaot.org.ua/presidium/), we know that they are most in need of the following:
Wound Vac machines and vac dressing supplies
- External fixators (monolateral/AO/Hoffmann)
- Compartment pressure monitoring equipment
- Power drills, oscillating saws, k-wire drivers
- Trauma instrument sets and implants (extremity, spine and craniofacial – complete sets are ideal, but they can use individual implants as well)
For those who are able to gather supplies, once you have some ready for shipment, please do the following:
- Please email both Volodymyr_Khalus@Jabil.com (Volodymyr Khalus) and sergiyvk@protonmail.com (Dr. Sergiy Kushchayev). They are coordinating shipments from the US. Please also cc me (coleen.sabatini@ucsf.edu) from the AAOS International Committee.
- When you email us, please include a contact person (if other than yourself) who will help coordinate the shipment.
- A member from Dr. Kushchayev and Volodymyr’s team will then contact that person to provide shipping instructions and discuss details about the shipments: content, size, weight (if possible), address, packing and how to print labels – this will be basic information, should not be time consuming.
Thank you in advance for helping our colleagues in Ukraine. I will update you if we hear of any changes in needs from our Ukrainian colleagues in the coming weeks.
Sincerely,
Coleen S. Sabatini, MD, MPH, FAAOS
Chair, AAOS International Committee