Mykola Avramenko meeting with the commandant and head of the medical unit of the Irpin military hospital
In April 2014, Dr. Mykola Avramenko joined a USAID-fund training group of ten people for a program in Detroit, Michigan called “Mastering Modern Methods in Rehabilitation of Disabled Children.” Since his return from the US, Dr. Avramenko has taken important steps to apply what he learned abroad in his work as Director of the Ukraine National Center of Vocational Rehabilitation of People with Disabilities, improving services that support children with disabilities and other vulnerable populations.
During his US program, Dr. Avramenko met with a variety of Americans and organizations involved with volunteer activities, a fundamental aspect of US society. He also took part himself in a volunteer activity. These encounters inspired him to expand and strengthen the volunteer work at his Center. In an ongoing voluntary initiative called “Help the Heroes Injured during the Anti-Terrorist Operation,” youth with disabilities visit the Main Military Clinical Hospital in Kyiv and Military Hospital in Irpin and organize charity events to support wounded soldiers. Students from the Center give drawings and handmade crafts to soldiers.
In addition, Dr. Avramenko has developed a partnership with the Ukrainian Red Cross Society in Vyshgorod. The Red Cross provides humanitarian aid supplies that Dr. Avramenko uses for medical, educational and socio-cultural programs for the residents of Vyshgorod district and dispalced children.
“The USAID program provided me with valuable experience,” says Dr. Avramenko. “The knowledge I gained in the US greatly enhanced my expertise in the field of rehabilitation and now I clearly see that effective results could be gained through continuous improvement of the rehabilitation models, and adapting and testing international best practices in Ukraine.”
Dr. Avramenko is a highly qualified medical specialist and honored physician of Ukraine. He has devoted fourteen years of his work in the rehabilitation center to the formation and development of vocational rehabilitation as a new direction in social rehabilitation of people with disabilities in Ukraine.
Dr. Avramenko’s training program took place under the USAID Participant Training Program in Ukraine.