Project “Primary Care”: How “Stellar Ukraine” Provides Medical Assistance to People in the Kharkiv Region

Despite two years having passed since de-occupation, residents of de-occupied and remote settlements still lack access to medical care and psychological support.

In many settlements, stores, pharmacies, hospitals, and clinics are destroyed. Some places never had a village outpatient clinic or a paramedic-midwife station, and residents have to travel several hours by car to reach the nearest medical facilities.

There is also a shortage of medical personnel, as many specialists left for other regions or abroad at the start of the war, leaving rural clinics empty. Transportation logistics have not been restored in all liberated settlements, meaning that people literally cannot travel to see a doctor in the district center. This is especially challenging for the elderly, who make up the majority of those remaining in the Kharkiv region, as it is more difficult for them to travel.

Many residents continue to suffer from numerous shellings by the occupiers, so in addition to proper medical care, they also need psychological support.

What is the solution and how does it work?

In the spring of 2023, the charitable foundation "Stellar Ukraine," in partnership with the International Rescue Committee and USAID BHA, launched the "Primary Care" mobile medical assistance project. The goal is to provide help to people living in parts of the Kharkiv region where access to medical services and psychological support is limited due to ongoing or past hostilities.

To achieve this, the foundation's team created "mobile clinics"—medical teams that travel by car daily (except Sundays) to provide free medical care to local residents in need. Each of these vehicles is equipped with a basic set of medicines and medical equipment. The teams include general practitioners, traumatologists, cardiologists, as well as psychologists and drivers.

"I remember all my patients, and especially those from the Izium community, who reached out to us. They have endured the harshest conditions and need support," shares Svitlana Kucherenko, a general practitioner and postgraduate student at the Kharkiv National Medical University. She was one of the first to join the "Primary Care" medical team.

She adds that during medical examinations, people most often complain about heart pain, high blood pressure, dizziness, tachycardia, and hypertension. "The most challenging part of the job is making an accurate diagnosis due to insufficient examination, in order to provide the necessary treatment that would help the patient," says Svitlana.

"Having medical professionals among the founders, we had up-to-date information on the medical needs of the city, necessary contacts for gathering such requests, and expertise for preparing lists of medicines and equipment. We also worked on delivering medicines to the population, which later gave us an understanding of the complex situation in this sphere in the Kharkiv region," says Mykola Kamchatny, co-founder of the foundation.

He adds that immediately after the de-occupation of most of the Kharkiv region, the foundation's team began working on launching this necessary and important project, which they are still implementing—the "Primary Care" project. Volunteering, as a response to urgent acute problems, has taken the form of organized and systematic full-time work for some team members directly involved in the project. Others simultaneously work on current requests that arise daily.

Does it really work?

In less than a year, the team managed to become the only charitable organization in the eastern region that conducts four simultaneous visits daily to places in the Kharkiv region where access to medical and psychological services is limited due to ongoing or past hostilities.

The numbers are impressive: since the beginning of the project, "Primary Care" specialists have provided assistance in 135 settlements, conducted 19,500 medical consultations for 7,730 patients, and provided over 1,800 psychological consultations. Additionally, they carried out 11 successful referrals that resulted in surgical interventions with the help of their doctors. You can find out where the doctors provide free medical assistance on the foundation's Facebook and Instagram pages.