SumDU students are proud of the project having won the all-Ukrainian contest

Scaling up the project “Emotional Burnout of Medical Workers” comes to end. In June 2023, it won the all-Ukrainian contest of student civic action projects “DemBachenia”.

The SumDU project team promotes mental health, which is significant in wartime. Activities include introductory lectures for health workers and training sessions with a psychologist. He is experienced in working with war-related trauma.

During October, over 200 medical workers from emergency centers (Sumy Oblast, border and liberated areas) took part in the project. They come from Trostianets, Okhtyrka, Velyka Pysarivka, Bilopillia, Krasnopillia, Shostka, Seredina-Buda, Hlukhiv, Putivl, Sumy, etc.

According to Aliona YAREMENKO (a Medical Institute student), it is important to understand the patient emotional state, correct diagnosis, emergency measures and recovery forecast. They depend on emotional state of emergency medical workers who provide aid. Medical workers who work in border settlements under constant shelling and go on emergency calls are primarily at risk of emotional burnout. That is why the project was aimed at them.

As the SumDU project mentor, associate professor, PhD in Political Science, Valentyna OPANASIUK noted the demand for training and education remains high.

Based on the scaling results, the project team together with the Sumy Regional Center of Emergency Medical Aid and Disaster Medicine are preparing proposals to the Ministry of Reintegration to ensure the direction of mental health of medical workers for the coming years.

Resource project support was provided by the United States Agency for International Development, the Canadian Ministry of International Affairs, the Government of Great Britain. SumDU supported the project team as well. The International Foundation for Electoral Systems of Ukraine also provided mentor support at the second stage of project activities.