José L. Díaz-Gómez, MD, FASE, FCCM, rides his bicycle to work every day in Houston, Texas. He passes the Texas Medical Center, where he sees a large Ukrainian flag on one of the hospital buildings. The flag symbolizes support for Ukraine in its ongoing war with Russia, and now when Dr. Díaz-Gómez passes it, he sees something more. He sees courage, responsibility, and hope.
Dr. Díaz-Gómez is the medical director of cardiothoracic, mechanical circulatory support, and transplant critical care and director of critical care echocardiography at Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center. He is the physician leader for a Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM) mission to support hospitals and health systems impacted by the war in Ukraine. The mission is designed to improve the medical knowledge, confidence, and skill levels of Ukrainian clinicians using ultrasound equipment to save patients’ lives. SCCM will donate 80 handheld ultrasound units to healthcare facilities in Ukraine and will provide the necessary training.
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“The Ukrainian mission is crucial for me because it confirms that SCCM promotes involvement, innovation, and expanded access to leadership opportunities that maximize engagement across diverse populations,” said Dr. Díaz-Gómez. "We are committed to delivering a life learning experience that expands the knowledge of Ukrainian physicians, prehospital medics, and critical care professionals.” A $750,000 grant from Direct Relief makes this possible. Direct Relief, a humanitarian aid organization, is one of only three charities approved by the Ministry of Health of Ukraine to coordinate delivery of medications and supplies.
“The healthcare system in Ukraine has been devastated during the war. Hundreds of healthcare professionals have been killed or wounded since February,” said SCCM Chief Philanthropy Officer Mark Lenhart. “SCCM and its members around the world feel an obligation to provide medical supplies, training, and direct patient care to help alleviate suffering in any way we can.”
The handheld ultrasound units offer portability, high image quality, and quantitation capability that can lead to increased diagnostic reliability, Dr. Díaz-Gómez said. The key is knowing how to use the units effectively. Dr. Díaz-Gómez estimates that only 5% to 10% of the world’s medical professionals have some degree of education in ultrasonography. Dr. Díaz-Gómez has been an SCCM faculty member for SCCM’s critical care ultrasound courses for more than a decade. Along with a team of SCCM members, he will travel to Ukraine in the spring of 2023 to distribute the handheld units and train approximately 130 Ukrainian healthcare professionals.
In addition to the handheld devices, each participant will receive a tablet containing a packet of SCCM expert-developed presentations, clinical cases, selected book chapters, slides, and videos translated into Ukrainian. Dr. Díaz-Gómez said that translating materials into Ukrainian “demonstrates SCCM’s commitment to accomplishing this specific mission for the Ukrainians and maximizes the understanding of a relatively complex skill such as echocardiography with an immediate impact on patient care at the bedside. We must make our colleagues comfortable and engage them in their education. Thus, it is critical to have the material in the Ukrainian language to reach all age groups, as only the younger generation has some experience with the English language.”
After program participants are trained, they can in turn train their colleagues, spreading the reach of SCCM’s educational efforts in ways SCCM could not do on its own. If the SCCM team trains 130 healthcare professionals, the actual reach of the training could easily stretch into the thousands. "We believe training the trainer is the best step for moving forward during our mission,” Dr. Díaz-Gómez said. “We will select critical care ultrasound practitioners with intermediate skills and provide a solid educational intervention to facilitate their progression toward proficiency. We already know that outstanding Ukrainian physicians are eager to learn more advanced applications of critical care ultrasound.” Translators will be on site during the training, said Dr. Díaz-Gómez, who has also been learning Ukrainian.
This is not the first time SCCM has partnered with Direct Relief. In May 2022, SCCM received a grant to provide 12 frontline hospitals $50,000 each to purchase needed supplies to keep their hospitals and ICUs operational. Direct Relief has coordinated the delivery of over 1000 tons of field medic packs, insulin, oxygen concentrators, wound care supplies, and other essential medical resources. Donations from organizations, corporations, and dedicated members make it possible for SCCM to respond in ways that are making a significant difference to patients impacted by this crisis.
Additionally, SCCM has provided an array of free online training resources that have been translated into Ukrainian. SCCM plans to release similar materials in Polish to support colleagues treating Ukrainian refugees in Poland. “SCCM promotes health equity, supporting training for under-resourced environments in the United States and globally,” said Dr. Díaz-Gómez.
