With supplies and equipment in tow, a Guelph doctor is in Ukraine helping people injured during the ongoing Russian invasion and resistance efforts.
Dr. Matthew Brace, who owns Facial Plastics with his wife Latitia, left for the European nation Thursday as part of a group of medical specialist volunteers taking part in the mission through the Face the Future Foundation.
“The need is massive and there's not a lot of people that are trained to do (facial reconstruction surgeries in Ukraine),” Brace said before he boarded a plane for Poland on Thursday, followed by a 10-hour bus ride to the Ukrainian village of Ivano-Frankivsk.
“A lot of them are blast injuries where people have just lost part of their face,” he explained of the people they’ll be helping. “There's some really significant and scary-looking facial deformities as a result of those injuries.”
It goes far beyond physical appearances, Brace noted, with some injuries including jaw damage that prevents people from chewing and nose injuries that impact people’s ability to breathe, among others.
Over four days, Brace expects to perform surgery on 31 patients – civilians and soldiers – all the while teaching techniques to Ukrainian medical professionals. He’s also set to share his knowledge with a group of 500 doctors during a symposium held by the Face of the Future.
“It's not a third-world country at all, but it's certainly not a first-world country and so their medical training is not the same as they would be here,” he explained. “A big part of this mission is teaching.
“We're going to show them how to do this so that they can continue.”
The hospital where Brace will be performing surgery has little to no surgical instruments or supplies on hand, so he’s been gathering donations in anticipation of the trip and planned to bring his own instruments too.
“I just think it's such a unique opportunity for him to use his special skill set to give back in this way,” commented Latitia, who is director of operations at Facial Plastics. “It's gonna be life changing for these people.”
It was Dr. Peter Adamson, a mentor to Brace and founder of the Face of the Future Foundation, who invited the local surgeon to join the mission. It’s the foundation’s second trip to Ivano-Frankivsk.
The first involved mostly American doctors, this past March.
“I'm really excited to … give back in this way,” Brace said, acknowledging some nervousness being in Ukraine as the war rages. “They have plans in place. They have protocols in place. And they're also really far from where the fighting is.”
Ivano-Frankivsk is near the country’s western edge, several hundred kilometers from the frontline in the east.
Brace is set to return to Guelph Oct. 22.
