Airlifted MRI: a resounding success story of Chornobyl relief efforts (02/02/97)

Airlifted MRI: a resounding success story of Chornobyl relief efforts

KYIV - It was two and a half years ago when a giant U.S. Air Force C-5 cargo plane left Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on a humanitarian mission. The plane touched down in Boryspil Airport and unloaded a state-of-the-art Magnetic Resonance Imaging System from its hull. The General Electric MRMAX, valued at $1.1 million was purchased for $350,000 by the Ukrainian National Women's League of America and the Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund. The MRI project sparked a two-year fund-raising drive that captured the attention and the generous support of the Ukrainian American community.

Following an intensive screening process by U.S. medical experts, the MRI was installed at the Kyiv Emergency Hospital and Trauma Center on the Left Bank of the Dnipro River, where it is housed in a tractor trailer prominently marked with the logos of the UNWLA and the CCRF.

When it was first installed in 1994, the MRI was greeted with more than a little skepticism on the part of U.S. government officials and other humanitarian organizations: How could such a sophisticated system function properly in the Ukrainian medical environment? Would Ukrainian radiologists be adequately trained to utilize its tremendous diagnostic potential? How would the Kyiv hospital cover the cost of the expensive cryogens and chemical reagents needed to keep the system running? (In most Western hospitals these elements can cost a hospital over $40,000 per year.) Would the MRI be accessible to ordinary citizens, or would it only serve the affluent and the government elite?

Two years after it was installed, the staff of the Kyiv Emergency Hospital has answered the skeptics, and the MRI has become one of the resounding success stories of the Chornobyl relief movement.

General Electric made good on its promise to thoroughly train the Kyiv radiology team in all the applications of the MRI. Dr. Vladimir Vitte, the director of the MRI unit, and his colleagues received extensive training at GE's facilities in Western Europe.

To ensure that no aspect of the system was underutilized, the CCRF and the UNWLA sent their own medical advisers to evaluate the progress of the MRI team, and to determine whether the Ukrainian staff had fully mastered the technology. Dr. Leo Wolansky, a leading MRI expert from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, and Dr. Chrystia Slywotzky, a radiologist from the New York University Medical Center, each traveled separately to Kyiv and returned with glowing reviews of the MRI trainees. UNWLA President Anna Krawczuk, CCRF President Dr. Zenon Matkiwsky and CCRF board member Dr. Ihor Sawczuk also carefully monitored the implementation of the MRI program.

Since the MRI was such a costly investment, its American donors were especially concerned that it be used with maximum efficiency, and that it benefit as many patients as possible. By all accounts, this goal is being accomplished.

In his latest report to CCRF's Kyiv Office, Dr. Georgy Roshchin, the chief doctor of the Kyiv Emergency Hospital, verified that in its first two years of operation, the MRI has provided diagnostic studies for 4,316 patients, of whom 648 were children and 863 were Chornobyl "liquidators" (veterans of the Chornobyl disaster response).

These screenings resulted in the discovery of more than 400 malignant tumors, and also proved to be invaluable in the treatment of a multitude of traumatic injuries. According to the hospital's agreement with the UNWLA and the CCRF, the vast majority of these patients (including children and liquidators) received their MRI screenings at no cost. Only a handful of corporate clients and affluent patients paid the full cost of their treatment, and this was sufficient to cover the cost of the cryogens. Thus, for all intents and purposes, the imaging system has now become self-sustaining.

Beyond the cold statistics lie heart-warming personal stories that have begun to filter back to American donors who gave so generously to make the MRI dream a life-saving reality.

In a recent letter, one mother, Halyna Petrychenko, wrote to the Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund office in Kyiv:

"Allow me to thank you from the bottom of my heart for your assistance in the diagnosis and treatment of my child, Svitlana Petrychenko. Last spring, our family was stricken by misfortune. Our little Svitlana was struck by a car. In the city of Rivne they were unable to establish a sound diagnosis. Only with the help of the magnetic resonance system was it possible to operate on the brain hemorrhage. After the operation her recovery was positive, and currently, our child is in good condition....I bow my head before you. May you be blessed."

In another letter, Iryna Chesnyk of Berezhany (Ternopil Oblast) writes:

"From all my maternal heart, I sincerely thank you for your aid in the diagnosis of my child, Alina Chesnyk. It was only thanks to the magnetic resonance that my child was given a second life [the removal of a terrible brain tumor which had once been inoperable]. With immense gratitude from all the mothers of our city..."

The MRI has been featured in numerous news stories, including lengthy articles in the Louisville (Kentucky) Courier-Journal, the New Jersey Courier News and the Asbury Park Press. In April 1996 the MRI was shown during a special report on Chornobyl presented by anchorwoman Roz Abrams on WABC TV in New York City.

Building on the successes of the MRI project, the UNWLA and the CCRF are now working separately on new humanitarian initiatives to benefit hospitals in Ukraine. For more information on how you can help, please contact the Ukrainian National Women's League of America, 108 Second Ave, New York, NY 10003; telephone, (212) 533-4646; or the Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund, 272 Old Short Hills Road, Short Hills, NJ 07078; telephone, (201) 376-5140.

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