With children clad in Ukrainian costumes singing in the lobby of Romodanov Institute of Neurosurgery administrative building with traditional bread and salt on an embroidered towel ready, there was an unmistakable atmosphere indicating that old friends were to come and the hosts were going to greet them with open arms. In fact, Joseph Ziegler and his team were bringing to the institute yet another donation of humanitarian assistance from Germany. A column of trucks was called by doctors in military fashion a convoy. Perhaps this was because the column, typically made up of fifteen to sixteen trucks, was escorted by several other support vehicles.
It was the tenth convoy and a most welcome one because it was to deliver to the Institute of Neurosurgery of Ukraine’s Academy of Medical Science a valuable instrument, a neuroendoscope, earmarked for the pediatric department, with the Main Child Neurosurgeon of Ukraine Prof. Yury Orlov engaged in lengthy conversations with media representatives explaining the value of the equipment that will enable surgeons to see what is typically hidden from view and assess the condition of adjacent tissue during the operation. Owing to the neuroendoscope, complex brain surgeries will be made less traumatic for little patients giving more hope for their ultimate recovery.
Meanwhile, Head of the Chornobyl Union’s Children Fund Valentyna Kolesnykova rapturously described Dr. Ziegler’s charity record. He was the initiator and coordinator in Germany of an assistance program for the victims of the Chornobyl tragedy. This is the tenth time Dr. Ziegler and his voluntary assistants have taken a leave of absence at the own expense to bring humanitarian aid to Ukraine.
A medical doctor, he sees to it that the shipment contains the needed medical equipment and pharmaceuticals, not only food and clothes. His program has already made it possible to deliver humanitarian assistance to five regions of Ukraine, to the cities of Koriukok, Yahotyn, Ulianivka, Narodychi, and Volochysk. In recognition of his charity work Dr. Ziegler has received decorations and citations from the Administration of the President of Ukraine, the Kyiv City Administration, the Red Cross Society, and the Chornobyl Union. This time Ms. Kolesnykova made sure that the German convoy newcomers received citations from the Chornobyl Union. On their part, the Germans kept the ceremony of the neuroendoscope as low key as possible, tying up the box with the equipment with a blue and yellow ribbon to make it look more like a Christmas gift presented in a family circle.
Of course, the ceremony had its share of official verbiage. The speakers, Institute of Neurosurgery Director and Vice President of the Academy of Medical Science Academician Yury Zozulia, Head of Neurosurgery Clinics Prof. Yury Orlov, and Dr. Ziegler himself, were unanimous in pointing out that humanitarian assistance has acquired new dimensions and reached new levels. While in the first years of the country’s independence Ukrainian doctors needed the essentials, everything from beds and bedding to disposable syringes, now that the Ukrainian economy has turned the corner and the quality of medical services can be raised, our specialists are more interested in modern medical equipment. Quite appropriately, the coordinators of this charity program have taken this fact into account by raising money to buy the neuroendoscope and training surgeon Volodymyr Mykhaliuk how to operate it.
