Dear Friends,
March was a very busy month! In the middle of the month, almost all of our staff at the Active Rehabilitation Center (ARC) traveled to Lviv, a city in the western part of Ukraine. Our goal was to see two rehabilitation centers and learn how they operate. The first center was located at a hospital and is considered the top center in Ukraine for patients with spinal cord injuries (SCI). We were pleasantly surprised to see that the therapists work on the same goals that we work on at our center. And we were encouraged to learn that God has blessed us with more equipment and resources for our work. This trip gave us more confidence in what we do and encouraged us to strive even harder in our work for the good of our patients and the glory of our God.
The other center was established for children with special needs. It operates as a charitable foundation and provides physical, social, occupational and psychological care for families affected by disability. We had a good meeting with our colleagues and were blessed to learn that there are others in Ukraine who really care for the needs of children with disabilities. The center operates on charitable donations from outside Ukraine and can treat over 200 children a day! We also met with the lawyer for the center to learn what steps are needed to open a similar center here in Lutsk. Currently, the ARC is not a registered therapy center and this presents many difficulties in working with patients and in cooperating with hospitals and doctors for referrals. We understand that we could help more people in our city and region with official registration. Please pray for us to have wisdom in organizing this process and finding support to finance it.
At the end of the month, Alla, another physical therapist in our center, and I were able to attend to a 5-day seminar on occupational therapy for people with strokes in Dnipropetrovsk. We are so grateful that God allowed us to attend this training. Occupational therapy is not currently present in Ukraine. The seminar was taught by a therapist from a Russian hospital who had trained in England. It was beneficial for us to see a different approach to helping a patients become more independent in daily life and enjoy their lives despite their disability. Thank you all for praying for us. It truly was a sacrifice for us to go, but God provided for our needs and granted us safe travel.
Prayer needs:
- Wisdom in planning to register our center.
- Finances for registration.
- Repentance of Ukrainians and Russians in this difficult time for the country.
- Wisdom to use the knowledge we gained and the ability to share it with others.