Trenches litter the ground, military vehicles zoom by and the sounds of explosions and gunfire ring out. At times, darkness fills the reconstructed battlefield in central Poland. On the ground, the wounded – actors or models – are bleeding profusely after being allegedly hit by gunfire or shrapnel. Around them, Ukrainian recruits provide first aid under the watchful eye of 12 Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) medical instructors.
Since last March, Canada has been participating in the Polish-led training program to rush Ukrainian medical technicians to the battlefield. Training, condensed into three weeks – while that offered to medical technicians in Canada stretches over months – which focuses on “survivability” in combat.
Through the four modules taught to them, future medical technicians mainly learn “to preserve, on the battlefield, life [des soldats blessés] until they are taken to a medical center,” explains the Duty Kristina Melvin, the CAF warrant officer who leads the team of trainers deployed to Poland.
To reproduce as faithfully as possible the conditions of stress and anxiety felt in the heat of the moment, a simulation center has been set up. “We are able to reproduce sounds of explosions and shots, or other things, which can distract [les futurs techniciens médicaux] and cause them stress while they have to practice their knowledge,” she says.
We use equipment that offers very high fidelity. One can simulate an injury to a bleeding limb, and the bleeding will only stop when the recruits put enough pressure with a tourniquet on that limb.
The models also offer a direct plunge into reality. “We use equipment that offers very high fidelity” regarding injuries that can occur on the front line, explains Kristina Melvin. For example, “you can simulate an injury to a bleeding limb, and the bleeding will only stop when the recruits put enough pressure with a tourniquet on that limb.”
To combat the “triad of death” (coagulopathy, acidosis and hypothermia), medical technicians learn, in addition to applying a tourniquet – to themselves or to another person – in less than a minute to stop the hemorrhage, to clear the airways and to combat the hypothermia which occurs rapidly after heavy bleeding. “We practice the techniques over and over to make sure it becomes second nature to them. »
Already four cohorts have completed the training program. And several medical technicians trained by Canadian troops are already in action. “The techniques we taught them save lives,” rejoices Kristina Melvin. But the heartbreaks are also there, explains the one who has already served, among other places, in Afghanistan and Sierra Leone to fight against Ebola. “Many of our students leave for the front line and we understand the risks they run. »
Canadian medical equipment
In addition to sending medical instructors to Poland, Canada is supporting healthcare in Ukraine by providing $8.5 million in humanitarian funding to the World Health Organization (WHO) “to meet the vital needs of people affected by the crisis in Ukraine”, mentions to the Duty Global Affairs Canada. This assistance notably enabled the delivery of pharmaceutical products and medical supplies, such as emergency trauma and surgery kits, blood transfusion equipment and emergency health kits.
The Public Health Agency of Canada’s National Emergency Strategic Stockpile (NESS) also donated 345,000 units of essential supplies, such as beds and blankets, to Ukraine in 2022. do not compromise the ability of the RNSU to respond to public health events that may occur in Canada”, supports the Public Health Agency of Canada.
Revaluing Québec equipment
In Quebec, the organization Collaboration Santé Internationale (CSI) — whose mission is to recover and upgrade surplus equipment from the Quebec health network — sent 80 pallets of drugs, medical supplies and equipment to Ukraine through the humanitarian corridor set up by Poland.
“We give a second life to decommissioned equipment that no longer meets the standards of the Ministry of Health and Social Services,” explains Jacques Paradis, CEO of CSI. Since the organization was founded in 1968, salvaged equipment that is still functional has been sent to developing countries or to communities devastated by disasters or conflicts, such as Ukraine.
In addition to this recovered material, CSI’s shipments to Ukraine included donations from private partners, such as pharmaceutical companies who donated medicines. “We started by sending barrels of medicines and medical equipment in March 2022, specifies Mr. Paradis. Subsequently, we continued our humanitarian action throughout the year to help hospitals in Kiev, Lviv, Zaporijjia, Kherson and Zalischyky through our various partners in Ukraine. »
The MSSS indicates that among the material recovered from the health network that was sent to Ukraine are supplies to take care of wounds (dressings, compresses, suture trays), boxes of endotracheal tubes and gastrostomy tubes. .
Solidarity between colleagues
Initiatives between medical colleagues have also arisen. From the first days of the war, the Global Surgery Center of the McGill University Health Center (MUHC) produced video clips translated into Ukrainian to help overseas colleagues who had to learn to heal war wounds.
“It was mainly to help [des collègues] who were not necessarily involved, in their usual practice, in war care, in traumatological surgeries or in resuscitation, but who had to get involved because of the gravity of the situation and the volume “of wounded, indicates the Dr Tarek Razek, head of the trauma department at the MUHC.
These capsules not only served to transfer knowledge, but also to demonstrate to Ukrainian doctors the support of their colleagues internationally. “There is a lot of collegiality in the medical world,” he says. A collegiality that continues, while the Dr Razek says he is in regular contact, even today, with Ukrainian surgeons.