Chernihiv City Hospital No. 3 radiology department was damaged on March 13 2022 as a result of a direct hit by several projectiles. In October 2023, the building reconstruction was completed due to the fundraising platform UNITED24 and FC Dynamo Kyiv.
On Friday, Dynamo vice president Dmytro Brief and business development director Maxym Radutskyi visited the hospital. On the occasion of the completion of the restoration, they presented the radiology department with a large photo from the charity match against the English side Everton, which raised funds for the capital and thorough restoration of the building. The photo shows Ukrainian migrants, who are located on a makeshift map of Ukraine according to the region from which they moved after the russian invasion. Besides the club representatives brought some gifts and Dynamo stuff.
The gifts were gladly accepted by the CEO of the hospital, Viktor Yampol, who gave the guests a tour of the department, showed beautiful, bright, updated radiology and computer tomography rooms, restored equipment, and told how the hospital suffered three enemy attacks at the beginning of a full-scale invasion, about the stages of reconstruction, people and organizations that helped, and shared his memories of being in the hospital shelter together with the employees, their families, patients, residents of Chernihiv – a total of 650 people, among them 120 children.
He also mentioned the well-coordinated work of the team of doctors who, after the shelling, removed the broken glass and sealed the windows, strengthened the protective capacity of the hospital building with sandbags. What matters is that none of the employees and patients were injured, because everyone went down to the shelter in time. Beside the building, an X-ray machine was damaged, but it was restored.
Even during the war, the radiology department didn’t stop working for a moment, receiving both civilians and wounded soldiers who sought help 24/7. The doctors spared neither effort nor time.
Moreover, emergency care was versatile – resuscitation, vascular neurology, surgery, etc. Another city hospital was repurposed to provide assistance to wounded soldiers. When its reception department and trauma center were damaged as a result of the shelling, the doctors of Hospital No. 3 came to the rescue, and their team of surgeons, traumatologists and other doctors treated numerous patients.
The facility continued to provide services even during repairs and large-scale reconstruction, because due to mobile equipment, in particular, mobile X-ray machines, it was possible to arrange workplaces in the corridor.
The medical staff of the radiology department presented Dynamo guests with a large poster, on the back of which doctors, nurses and medical staff expressed their gratitude to the club for the tangible help in restoring their building.
The ceremony was attended by Volodymyr Pavlenko, the head of the contracting organization that performed repairs and proved itself to be a reliable, professional partner with a high-quality range of services, as well as soldiers who are currently recovering from injuries in Chernihiv – Viktor Rybak and Dmytro Skrypka. They presented Dynamo managers with the flag of Ukraine as a symbol of indomitability. They also handed over footballs and flags, which will be delivered to our players and on which they will leave their autographs, because, as the warriors admitted, many soldiers are interested in football and cheer for our club.
It is interesting that Dmytro Skrypka is a trainee of Yunist sports school as much as Andriy Yarmolenko, who also comes from Chernihiv, and they crossed paths more than once when training, so most of the greetings were addressed to him. By the way, Andriy has also significantly helped the City Hospital No. 3 by purchasing an ambulance for it.
The CEO of the hospital Viktor Yampol has told about it in detail:
- We are very pleased that we managed to restore our radiology diagnostics department, which was completely destroyed with a direct missile-bomb attack. The outer and inner walls, floor slabs, broken roof and all communications were completely destroyed. There was even talk of preserving this building for the winter so that the destruction did not continue. But, fortunately, thanks to the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, the UNITED24 platform and FC Dynamo Kyiv, the restoration of the hospital began.
The major funds were provided by the football club, amounting to UAH 10.2 million. By January 2023, we had completely repaired the destroyed part, thanks to our contractor, who acted in a coordinated, professional and quality manner. This made it possible to save the premises. In March 2023, the X-ray room started operating in full. As I’ve said, the main credit for this goes to FC Dynamo Kyiv.
We also tidied up the adjoining territory, completely replaced the windows, carried out thermal renovation, i.e., insulated the premises, made beautiful entrances and exits. Now everything here is modern, comfortable and aesthetic, which our patients note, there is everything needed for people with disabilities, so all funds went to the benefit and good of the hospital, for its further development.
It is nice that we were helped not only by the football club, but also by individual players, in particular, Andriy Yarmolenko, from whom we received a modern sanitary car – ambulance with a lifting platform. It was filled with medicines and goodies for employees and the whole team. Later, the military asked us to hand over this ambulance to them, because there is not enough transport on the front line to transport wounded soldiers. Therefore, according to the decision of the Executive Committee of the City Council, we temporarily transferred it to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. When it is no longer needed, we’ll get it back.
Our next step will be to provide the equipment which is a bit scarce. In particular, we need to purchase a CT scanner that was completely destroyed during the shelling. It will let our department meet the requirements of time, because three times a week our hospital provides urgent medical care to citizens. Without a computer tomography, the quality of the provided services may deteriorate. We have a contract with a private institution, but it’s not really convenient to transport patients there. If no one helps us with this, we will have to purchase it at the hospital’s own expense. We have a room for this and it’s completely ready.
The medical director of the hospital Natalia Babkina also thanked guests for support:
- During the period of active hostilities, we suffered great losses – the destruction of our diagnostic complex. Only through joint efforts, due to the UNITED24 platform, FC Dynamo Kyiv, the Ministry of Health, we once again remind the society that we are Ukrainians, we have an invincible genetic code. By helping our hospital, you are strengthening the field of medicine as a whole. Now we can provide quality services in comfortable conditions.
Dynamo vice president Dmytro Brif also shared his impressions of the event:
- When you walk into this radiology department, you don’t get the impression that it’s a regular state hospital. It’s more like a modern, high quality private medical center. We can see that all the efforts of our team were not in vain. So we’re satisfied with the work done and the result.
After the start of the full-scale invasion, Dynamo couldn’t stand aside and found ways to help our state. That is why we held a series of charity matches under the slogan MATCH FOR PEACE, during which we raised funds for the restoration of social infrastructure. At the final stage, during the match against Everton, our team considered the investment options. We signed a memorandum of cooperation and partnership with UNITED24 for the purpose of investing funds in the reconstruction of the radiology department of Chernihiv City Hospital No. 3, from which the funding request was received. We immediately agreed, because Chernihiv is one of the cities that was the first to hold back the enemy.
We are grateful to the fans, spectators, business representatives for all the funds that were accumulated due to their donations and by playing our charity matches.
Our cooperation with UNITED24 continues. We constantly find new options for partnership to help Ukraine, our defenders, medical workers and the social sphere as a whole. In particular, during each Dynamo home match, the club sells charity tickets, the funds from which are directed through the UNITED24 fundraising platform to medical care.
It’s great that Dynamo players are also involved in charitable initiatives. Of course these days every citizen of Ukraine donates and is invests in the restoration of the state. It’s impressive that since the beginning of the war, football players began to unite regardless of the clubs they represent, the cities they come from, etc. They created something like charitable foundations, held meetings, bought cars, equipment, medical supplies for the Armed Forces and transferred all that to the front lines.
I also want to express my gratitude to the doctors of this department, who, together with their colleagues from other medical institutions throughout Ukraine, did not stop their activities for a single day during the full-scale invasion, but continued to help the population and the military who needed it. It is these people who are heroes. I am sure that together we will win.
- I’ve been to many hospitals around the world, and I can say that this department is no different from similar ones in European countries, – noted Maxym Radutskyi, Dynamo business development director. – It’s awesome. Unfortunately, not under the circumstances we would like, but now the city of Chernihiv has a radiology department of a truly European level. I don’t know how, but the reconstruction was completed even faster than planned. Doctors who work here are heroes, just like construction workers who restored it all, because they managed to do everything in a short period of time. In fact, everything was built from scratch in a year, because the hospital survived several direct hits. The fact that the department rebuilt is simply fantastic. I would like to thank doctors and the city for heroically being among the first to face the enemy, standing their ground and continuing their work.
Andriy Yarmolenko wanted to come with us today, I know the military guys were waiting for him, but, unfortunately, he is recovering from injury and didn’t manage to. I hope he will come next time.
Since the very beginning of the war, FC Dynamo" Kyiv have been helping as much as we can and we will not stop until victory. We have a big charitable foundation that has already provided tens of millions of euros in various aid and continues to do so. This hospital is the fifth infrastructural facility that Dynamo take care of. Besides, funds collected during one of our team’s charity matches, against Borussia Dortmund, were transferred for restoration of the stadium in Chernihiv.
