From September 16 to 22, the first mission of plastic and reconstructive surgeons Face to Face — Ukrainian Medical Mission took place. This project was created in cooperation with the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (AAFPRS), the organization Razom for Ukraine and the medical platform INgenius.

During the mission, 34 consultations and 31 operative interventions were conducted at the base of the Ivano-Frankivsk Regional Clinical Hospital.

Preparation for the project lasted 2.5 months. Many applications were received, among which only 34 of the most complex cases could be selected. Every day, work began at 7 a.m. and operations lasted until 9-10 p.m. The volume of surgical interventions was different — from rhinoplasty to the transplantation of the bone from the leg for the reconstruction of the lower jaw. Among them, the most difficult cases are:

• 2 surgeries for the reconstruction of the lower jaw using the fibula bone (revascularized fibula free flap)
• 8 operations with the installation of personalized implants of the lower jaw and orbital-zygomatic areas

The story of each patient is a story of war. These are terrible memories and difficult times. Our mission is not only specific help to the victims. It is about hope and faith in the light ahead. About the future that awaits our country. And we are working on it all together right now.

Such missions are the work of a dozen people, where everyone was a puzzle that with its help, became part of the result we got. 

It's time to say thank you. 

Special thanks to the main leaders of this project for the organization at a high level — the head of the humanitarian direction of AAFPRS — Dr Manoj Abraham; Ivanka Nebor — ENT doctor, founder and president of INgenius; Maria Soroka — co-founder and president of Razom for Ukraine; To Natalia Komashko, a Ukrainian ENT doctor and her Ukrainian team, who took on an incredible workload by accepting such a large volume of difficult patients in a short period of time

The team of the mission

The American mission that came to Ukraine consisted of 10 doctors and 3 nurses. Most of them work in university hospitals. We want to introduce you to them.

Doctors:

• Manoj T Abraham — MD, Chair of the Humanitarian Arm of the AAFPRS, Attending Faculty, Department of Otorhinolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery, New York Medical College & Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai 

• Augustine Moscatello — MD, Professor, Chairman at the Department of Otorhinolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery, New York Medical College

• Sherard Tatum — MD, Professor at the Department of Otorhinolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery, Upstate Medical University

• John Frodel — MD, Facial Plastic Surgery, Otolaryngology, Guthrie

• Grigoriy Mashkevich — MD, Plastic Surgeon, Assistant Professor at Department of Otorhinolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery, Mount Sinai

• Bruce Moskowitz — MD, Ophthalmic Plastic Surgery, Assistant Clinical Professor at Mount Sinai

• Boris Chernobilsky — MD, Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Otorhinolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery, NYU Grossman School of medicine

• Ivanka Nebor — MD, Clinical Fellow in Rhinology, Department of Otorhinolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery, Western University

• Luke Tomycz — MD, Neurosurgeon at Epilepsy Institute of New Jersey

• Glenn Castaneda — MD, Neurologist Nuvance at Health — Vassar Brothers Medical Center

Nurses:

• Susan Ketigian – Nurse

• Debbie Fritz – Nurse

• Lindsey Norrito — Surgical tech

Razom for Ukraine

Maria Soroka —  the co-founder and president of Razom for Ukraine

Key partners:

The company Materialise printed expensive titanium implants for patients for free. Thanks to them, our Ukrainian military and civilians will be able to return to normal life.

Thanks to the Pure Heart Foundation for organizing the arrival and settlement of patients and their families.

The American team brought with them the necessary tools, equipment and special profile consumables. We owe this to Healing the Children Northeast, Ethicon, Stryker. 

Live broadcast of surgical interventions organized by theUkrainian Association of Endoscopic Head and Neck Surgery  supported by Karl storz Україна, visited about 130 Ukrainian doctors.

We thank the Ministry of Health of Ukraine and the Minister of Health Viktor Lyashko for their assistance in carrying out the mission.

Thank you:

Airlink, FIGS, Scientific and Engineering Center "Scaner", Bionica Ukraine, MP Olena Vintonyak.

PHOTO REPORT: Sa Va (Vasyl Saliga)