The Battlefords Rotary Club recently hosted a group of Ukrainian doctors as part of its Group Study Exchange Program with Ukrainian Rotary clubs.
The group was comprised of one rotary club member, Yuliya Datsko, and four other doctors who, according to Rotary Club rules, could not be Rotarians. The entire trip will last a month - a parallel trip to what Canadian doctors will complete in Ukraine later this year.
The trip will have seen the Ukrainians travelling through Edmonton, Vegreville, Vermillion and Jasper, Alta. to the Battlefords, and Lloydminster from Oct. 1 to Oct. 30. The busy schedule of the visitors involved tours of medical facilities, cultural visits and a broad education about the inner workings of the Canadian medical system. The group was hosted at Edmonton City Hall by Edmonton mayor Stephen Mandel and city councillor Ed Gibbons, and trips through a great number of hospitals, primary care facilities and university classrooms.
"What amazed them about your hospitals was the equipment. We don't have high-quality equipment but our doctors are highly knowledgeable, explained Yuliya Datsko about the doctors' reactions to their hospital.
"I can say the same about universities and schools that I attended, I liked your SMART boards very much."
The group also had a chance to tour the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village near Tofield, Alta. just outside of Edmonton.
"It was very interesting for us because at first, we didn't realize that the people there were actors. We loved it. The language they were speaking was a mixture of very old Ukrainian and English, which we don't hear in Ukraine any more."
The Group Study Exchange program, which is funded by Rotary International, is created to give professionals between the ages of 25 and 40 opportunities for cultural and vocational exchange. Competition in Ukraine for the limited spots was tough, and the health care professionals who ended up earning the spots practised in neurosurgery, cancer, emergency and paediatrics. The Ukrainian participants are all highly qualified and respected in their fields - Tetiana Korotych, for example, has a PhD in paediatrics, two patents and has authored 20 scientific articles.
For the group, the trip was also a glimpse into North American culture and an opportunity to share Ukrainian culture with Canadians. Only the group's leader, Yuliya Datsko, had ever been to the United States before, and none of the other participants had ever been outside of Ukraine.
The trip to the Battlefords, including a tour of Saskatchewan Hospital, was also interesting for the group. From North Battleford they went to Saskatoon to see the Canadian Light Source Synchrotron. Overall, the trip seems to have been positive for the group. Datsko spoke glowingly of their Canadian hosts:
"We like the people, all of them are very hospitable, very friendly, and we are happy that we have so many friends in Canada."
