CCRF raises hope for newborns at Chernihiv maternity hospital (12/12/04)

CCRF raises hope for newborns at Chernihiv maternity hospital

by Ruslan Tracz

KYIV - The Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund celebrated its 15th anniversary on October 16, raising funds to purchase and deliver a neonatal respirator and an infant warmer to the Chernihiv City Maternity Hospital's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).

In addition to the equipment, essential technical and medical training of neo-natalogists and hospital engineers is being provided by Volodia Mitin, the director of NZ Techno.

"It is very comforting to work with progressive-minded physicians who are not afraid to admit to the need of advancing of training in their department, which immediately elevates the quality of healthcare in their NICU," said CCRF President Dr. Zenon Matkiwsky.

The fund-raiser, hosted by American Ambassador John Herbst and his wife, Nazedna, celebrated the gift of hope for the infants, children and parents of Ukraine. Hope, or "nadia," was the central theme of the evening.

"The results speak for themselves - the infusion of essential life-saving equipment and physicans' training always results in a decrease of infant mortality in the intensive care unit," stated Olena Welhasch.

The evening included a silent auction of 15 works of art - including works by such renowned Ukrainian artists as Yuriy Khymych and Serhiy Savchenko. The auction also included a stunning ring that was anonymously donated and went for $1,500.

"There were 110 guests at the fund-raiser, and our goal was to raise over $20,000 in order to purchase the equipment. Unfortunately, we were $3,000 short of reaching our goal," explained Ms. Welhasch. Nonetheless, she called the fund-raiser a success.

Among those in attendance were: U.S. Rep. John Conlan and his wife, Julia; Ukrainian actor Ostap Stupka, who also acted as one of the masters of ceremonies for the evening; and CCRF's president and co-founder, Dr. Matkiwsky.

In addition to the new equipment for the NICU, the CCRF will soon launch another sea shipment, with over $500,000 worth of materials destined for hospitals in Chernihiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Lutsk, Lviv, Odesa, Rivne and the Znamianka orphanage.

Over the last 15 years CCRF has established nine neonatal intensive care units and delivered 1,300 tons of humanitarian aid in Ukraine.

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