 |
 |
 |
 |
Donetsk/Pittsburgh Partners Open Family Medicine Center
Originally published in AIHA's Connections, August 2002.As a direct result of the urgent need for a community-based primary care site that caters to the health needs of miners and their families, as well as a desire to reduce the number of patient referrals to tertiary care specialists, the Donetsk/Pittsburgh partners opened the Donetsk Family Medicine Center in Ukraine on July 11. More than 40 medical specialists from the Kirov Rayon and local mine workers gathered for the opening, which was moderated by Grygoriy Shynkarenko, deputy head of the Kirov Rayon Administration. Several journalists also attended, interviewing officials and partners during the event.
Lidiya Blakytnaya, deputy head of the Oblast Health Administration; Jeanne Cooper, US partnership coordinator and program manager for Magee Womancare International;
|
Vladimir Mesha and Jeanne Cooper cut the ribbon to officially open the Family Medicine Center as an interpreter and Marina Berdalic, family medicine nurse, look on. (Photo: Vira Illiash) |
Following these remarks, guests witnessed the customary ribbon cutting—carried out by Cooper and Mesha—and participated in a tour of the facility. In addition, the partners held a press conference where they discussed legislative issues related to family medicine and the human resources and financing structures of the Family Medicine Center with local media.
The Center, which is located at the Donetsk Clinical Hospital #25—an NIS institution of the partnership—will promote health education and offer a wide range of screening for the early detection of disease.
|
Violetta Psheslinskaya, family physician, Yuliya Kondrahina, family medicine nurse, and Oksana Korovko, family physician, are members of the Family Medicine Center staff. (Photo: Vira Illiash) |
The family medicine model was chosen as a way to delivery affordable, accessible, and comprehensive primary healthcare to miners and their families following a sociological survey carried out in 1999 by Hospital #25. The study indicated that almost 82 percent of the Donetsk population preferred to have the same physician provide medical services for all members of their family.
Return to the menu of articles
