Sandor G. Vari

International Research and Innovation in Medicine Program,
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California, USA;
e-mail: sandor.vari@cshs.org

Received: 30 June 2023; Revised: 10 July 2023;
Accepted:  10 July 2023; Available on-line: 11 July 2023

The Regional Cooperation for Health, Science and Technology (RECOOP HST) Association, led by Cedars-Sinai Medical Center was formed in 2012 that includes 17 universities and academic organizations from eight countries in Central and Eastern Europe (Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Ukraine), and USA. The brutal Russian invasion of Ukraine changed the life of many families in Ukraine. The brave Ukrainian soldiers protecting their homeland, and now advancing into the occupied territories. During their heroic fight, many soldiers died, and many were wounded. RECOOP HST Association with Cedars Sinai Medical Center provided and provides continuous support for the wounded soldiers. RECOOP helped to purchase the electric gene¬rators at Lviv (LNMU), Ternopil (TNMU), and Kyiv (Palladin Institute), therefore, RECOOP donated 1,500 USD in humanitarian aid for each of our Ukrainian partners who have RECOOP Research Grants. RECOOP (350) and the author (200) purchased 550 one-handed Combat Application Tourniquet C-A-T® (30 USD/tourniquet) tested by U.S. Army’s Institute of Surgical Research and proved that C-A-T® completely occluded blood flow of an extremity in the event of a traumatic wound with significant hemorrhage. RECOOP already produced 2,400 Hemostatic Kits (9 USD/kit), and continuously producing the kits in Grant # 032: 2022–2023 Rostyslav Bilyy, Lviv, Ukraine, Improved Hemostatic Device with Chitosan Powder for Combat Injury Dressing. The Volunteer Centre of TNMU works around the clock to provide medical supplies and first aid kits for the Ukrainian soldiers and civilians distributing Hemostatic Kits and Combat Application Tourniquet C-A-T® to the frontline.
RECOOP HST Association with Cedars-Sinai Medical Center will start a project to help Ukrainian wounded soldiers. We would like to assist in the development of a grassroots organization of wounded soldiers and organize a network of Ukrainian medical universities. Ternopil National Medical University will assist in organizing the network to manage the Ukrainian Wounded Soldiers’ health problems online and offline. The posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) assessment will begin using a self-screen on the web. We will use the International Trauma Questionnaire (ITQ), an 18-question self-report measure focusing on the core features of PTSD and Complex PTSD (CPTSD). It was developed to be consistent with the organizing principles of the ICD-11 (https://novopsych.com.au/assessments/diagnosis/international-trauma-questionnaire-itq/). RECOOP Grant# 38 Ukrainian Wounded Soldier Project (UWSP) will involve volunteering wounded soldiers with PTSD would complete the online PTSD questionnaire that has already been tested in three Ukrainian projects [1 3]. We will train volunteer medical doctors to help the wounded soldiers online. Also, if the online consulting doctor realizes the severity of the health problems, soldiers should be referred to the nearby university hospital mental health unit. If you are interested in participating as a wounded soldier or medical professional, please contact Dr. Sandor G Vari, MD via Facebook Messenger or e-mail: vari@cshs.org.