The National Assembly of People with Disabilities of Ukraine, under the leadership of Momentum Wheels for Humanity, continues to implement the project: «Improving Rehabilitation Services in the Healthcare System».
The heroine of our story today is Valentyna, 74 years old, a resident of the town of Izyum in the Kharkiv region. In March 2022, the woman was evacuated to Dnipro, where she was placed in the Center for Temporary Accommodation of People with Disabilities and the Elderly Evacuated from Hot Spots, which operates under the Center for Social Adaptation of People with Disabilities «Ocean of Good» (hereinafter - NGO «Ocean of Good»). The daughter and grandson were admitted to a children's hospital where they were treated for severe head and arm injuries.
«It was hard, we believed that it would end soon,” Ms. Valentyna recalls, "but it didn't get any easier. When she ran to a nearby bomb shelter, her house was completely destroyed. As a result, she lost all her documents. At the Center, Olha Volkova, the project's case manager in Dnipro Oblast, and her team helped her pay for and restore all her lost documents, as well as make a passport. The new documents will make life much easier for both Ms. Valentyna and her family.
Currently, one of the most pressing problems faced by many internally displaced persons with disabilities is the loss of documents. There are several reasons for this, including: hasty evacuation, when there is a risk of forgetting some important things; destruction of documents during a fire in a house hit by Russian weapons; being wounded, when every second counts and personal belongings that were on the person at the time are the last thing on their mind.
Unfortunately, the consequences of not having documents for this vulnerable category of people can be tragic. In particular, they include the refusal of medical institutions to admit such people, which makes it impossible for them to receive medical care in advance, and makes it much more difficult to find a new permanent place of residence, which also requires a passport or other identity document.
Now Ms. Valentyna lives in a shelter for IDPs, and the case manager's team took care of her. Here, she was able to relax, take a shower, wash and dry her clothes, get a psychologist's consultation and a medical examination.
We continue to help and respond promptly to people's needs. We are bringing victory closer together, everything will be Ukraine!
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This initiative is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development under cooperative agreement number 7200AA18CA00032 with Partnerships Plus, funded through September 28, 2018, and implemented by the JSI Institute for Research and Training under agreement number PP-EI-001 with Momentum Wheels for Humanity. The contents are the sole responsibility of the National Assembly of People with Disabilities of Ukraine and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.
