Helping children and the doctors who care for them: how McDonald’s employees volunteer

Since February 24, the number of patients with mine and explosive injuries has significantly increased in Ukrainian hospitals. Some of them are children. Employees of McDonald’s and the “Ronald McDonald House Foundation” bought vacuum aspirators and VAK devices for them – the first type of equipment is needed during operations, the second helps wounds heal much faster. The history of the company’s “medical” volunteering is in the text. McDonald’s employees volunteer for those in need After the start of a full-scale war, McDonald’s restaurants temporarily closed. In the first few months, the company handed over 700 tons of products from McDonald’s warehouses and restaurants to humanitarian needs. Like the majority of Ukrainians, employees also engaged in volunteer initiatives. The company supported them in this and helped organize these efforts and make them even more effective. This is how McDonald’s employees joined the programs of the “Ronald McDonald’s House Foundation” as volunteers. We quickly established two important areas of assistance: we bought food and collected food kits to hand them over to Ukrainians who were in need, and we were looking for vitally necessary medical equipment for Ukrainian state hospitals. Volunteers contributed expertise in the organization of complex purchases and experience in organizing teams and implementing complex projects. “We didn’t want to disperse, instead we had to help in a targeted, specific and quick way. We wanted to rally people and resources and not waste “a single drop”, – says McDonald’s operations manager Yuriy Kos. In the first days of the full-scale invasion, many people were admitted to medical facilities who needed urgent care, many brought in by evacuation train from active war zones. The need for medical equipment was urgent. But the difficulty in meeting it was that non-medical people had to understand what doctors really needed and find quality and really effective equipment. Volunteers talked with doctors, the authorities, studied the needs of hospitals according to the applications received from them. They were looking for solutions so that small-sized devices could provide great help to the affected children and the doctors who care for them. The top of the requests were VAK-devices and vacuum aspirators, which at that time there were almost none in Ukraine.A new stage of volunteer research began: what exactly the equipment should be, what consumables should be provided for it, whether the devices will be available for maintenance and operation in Ukraine. It was also important whether doctors would be able to use the devices for the treatment of children, and the price and delivery time. And everything had to be organized as soon as possible, because the patients could not wait. VAK devices save lives The Lviv hospital, where surgeon Oleksandr Kalinchuk works, was one of those in dire need of equipment, the transfer of which was organized by McDonald’s volunteers. There they receive small patients from the eastern and southern regions suffering from shelling. Children often end up here with complex injuries – from mines and explosions, with shrapnel wounds, deep burns and even amputations. Doctors provide both emergency care and help to rehabilitate after an injury. So it was possible to transfer 15 vacuum aspirators and 20 vacuum therapy devices to the hospital. Doctors say that now there is enough equipment to provide treatment for all patients. Vacuum therapy devices (VAK devices) are equipment that was the most urgent humanitarian request among hospitals and are today the gold standard in medical care and an innovative method of treating even the most severe wounds. The devices help the wounds of young patients to heal faster. Wounds that can take up to six months to heal without the device heal in a matter of months with VAK devices. Treatment with VAK devices involves the use of negative pressure to clean the surface of the wound, which significantly accelerates its healing. Thanks to them, Ukrainian injured children can recover as soon as possible and return to their usual lives. “The VAC device creates a vacuum, but it is controlled. You can monitor the pressure and time, that is, set the indicators that a specific person needs,” explains Lviv hospital surgeon Oleksandr Kalinchuk. Vacuum therapy reduces the burden on doctors. The system is automatic, so the doctor only needs to monitor, and not be with the patient all the time, explains Oleksandr Kalinchuk. “VAC devices allow the patient to move freely thanks to the fixation of the device on the belt, and not to feel powerless, which is extremely important for children. It is difficult for them to explain why they need to be constantly confined to bed,” says the doctor. Vacuum aspirators are used specifically during surgical operations. This is a modern system of treatment in surgery, which allows you to pump out biological fluid from body cavities during or after operations, remove bone fragments, tissue fragments during operations, reduce swelling, and at the same time, pain. 11-year-old Artem was able to recover thanks to VAK therapy. Photo courtesy of Lviv Hospital. Even when children’s injuries are extremely complex, vacuum devices can save lives. Eleven-year-old Artem is one of those who recovered thanks to the help of McDonald’s volunteers. He was playing in the yard when Kharkiv was suddenly shelled with cluster bombs. There was no warning about the air raid, so the boy did not have time to hide. He received an open mine-explosive injury to the chest and abdominal cavity, lung, diaphragm, and liver damage from the bursting of the projectile. Artem was in a coma for half a week, so the child was taken to Lviv on an evacuation flight. Artyom underwent several operations there. For a month, the child could not get out of bed, he was cared for by Lviv doctors. Doctors stabilized the child’s condition thanks to VAK therapy. Now Artem is gradually recovering, undergoing rehabilitation with a physiotherapist, playing football. So far, McDonald’s volunteers together with the Foundation have managed to purchase and transfer 200 VAK devices to 50 hospitals, as well as 420 vacuum aspirators to 100 hospitals in 23 regions of the country.



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