Petrenko and CCRF visit future site of Odesa ICU for newborns (07/08/01)

Petrenko and CCRF visit future site of Odesa ICU for newborns

by Olena Welhasch

ODESA - World and Olympic figure skating champion Viktor Petrenko and a delegation of Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund (CCRF) representatives on June 2 visited the future home of a new state-of-the-art neonatal intensive care unit to be established in his name at the Odesa Children's Clinical Hospital.

A press conference hosted by Chief Doctor Oleksandr Liman and Chief Neonatalogist Ihor Semenenko officially inaugurated the launch of the Petrenko Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Many government officials and doctors from the hospital, as well as journalists from local television stations and newspapers, attended the briefing.

Following the press conference, the delegation toured the hospital and examined the outdated neonatal unit. The unit is currently undergoing renovation, financed by CCRF, to establish a sanitary and safe environment, including new copper tubing to ensure that the new equipment will best serve its purpose.

The "Viktory for Kids" ice skating show in Connecticut generated over $100,000 in net proceeds, which are earmarked for the establishment of this new neonatal intensive care unit. CCRF has already purchased three infant warmers, two Bear Cub Ventilators, two compressors, three Novametrix pulse oxymeters, a blood pressure monitor, four infusion pumps, two aspirators, two scales and two phototherapy lamps. The medical equipment will be assembled by Volodymyr Mitin, a biomedical engineer for the distributor NZ Techno.

To upgrade skills and to maximize the effectiveness of the new equipment, the intensive care staff has begun a special training program in Kyiv. The NICU will be operating and treating infants by July 2001.

Dr. Semenenko has had extensive training in neonatology. He took part in a Neonatal Resuscitation Training Center and has gone through primary neonatal intensive care training at Coney Island Hospital and Henry Ford Medical System Hospital in Detroit. Dr. Semenenko confided that he was especially excited about the new NICU to be established at his hospital through the efforts of Mr. Petrenko, because he and Mr. Petrenko took ice skating lessons together in their youth.

Mr. Petrenko was touched by the opportunity to help children from his hometown. He said he looks forward to the official opening and ribbon-cutting at the unit this fall. For additional information about CCRF or to make a tax-deductible donation, please contact the CCRF National Office, 272 Old Short Hills Road, Short Hills, NJ 07078; telephone, (973) 376-5140; website, www.childrenofchornobyl.org.

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