Kharkiv Primary Healthcare Centers Open, Bringing Comprehensive Services to Local Communities

Sandra McCormick (far right) presents a commemorative plaque on behalf of US partners to Nikolay Proskurin, director of Korobochkino Primary Healthcare Center.

Regional government officials, health administrators, members of the local media, and more than 230 people gathered on January 22 to celebrate the opening of two Primary Healthcare Centers—the Korobochkino Primary Healthcare Center in rural Chuguev Rayon and the Kharkiv Aerospace University Primary Healthcare Center in Kharkiv Oblast in Ukraine. The new facilities, established through the efforts of AIHA's Kharkiv/La Crosse partners, will bring comprehensive and affordable primary healthcare to the communities they serve.

Staffed with a family physician and seven nurses, the Korobochkino Center will offer a number of primary care services including prenatal care, dentistry, laboratory services, as well as community outreach and health promotion activities, and will serve about 4,000 people of all ages in the Kharkiv region. Space for the Korobochkino Center was contributed by the Kharkiv Oblast Health Administration, Kharkiv Oblast Students' Hospital, and the Chuguev Central Hospital—the NIS partners of the Kharkiv/La Crosse partnership.

The Kharkiv Aerospace University Primary Healthcare Center, which is located in a dormitory at the university, will cater to the healthcare needs of some 7,000 students. The Center's staff will include two family physicians, a midwife, and a health educator, and will promote healthy lifestyles among students through an emphasis on health education.

Olga Titarenko, Julie Bartels, an administrator at Franciscan Skemp Healthcare in LaCrosse and US partnership representative, and Alexandria Panehal cut the ribbon during the opening of the Kharkiv Aerospace Center.

Staff at both Centers were trained in primary care service delivery—screening, health education and promotion, clinic management, and customer service approaches to healthcare—through a series of AIHA workshops and conferences, partnership exchanges, and other USAID-supported activities.

Among those who attended the events were Volodymyr Kulik, head of the Chuguev Rayon Administration; Volodymyr Krivtsov, rector of Kharkiv Aerospace University; Alexander Serdyuk, first deputy head of the Kharkiv Oblast Health Administration; and Olga Titarenko, vice governor of the Kharkiv Oblast. Sandra McCormick, US project director of the Kharkiv/La Crosse partnership; Alexandria Panehal, USAID deputy mission director in Ukraine; and Eliot Pearlman, USAID senior health advisor in Kiev were also present at the ceremonies.

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