A group of Ukrainian doctors visited Elmhurst Hospital on Oct. 21 to learn about blood storage, management and distribution. It was one stop during a nine-day visit to the Chicago area and northern Illinois, Oct. 14-22, in which the delegation focused on how the U.S. healthcare system handles blood transfusion services.
Nataliia Mizynets, Oleksandr Sarzhevskyi and Oleksandr Serhiienko plan to return home and use the lessons learned to immediately benefit Ukrainians in their war against Russia. The Ukrainians intend to improve transfusion care based on best practices, and set up new hospital blood banks and laboratory services to provide transfusion support.
During their visit to Elmhurst Hospital, Dr. Lindsay Brackney, a pathologist and Blood Bank Medical Director, Elmhurst Hospital, described hospital transfusion practices and blood bank testing workflows, and Blood Bank clinical laboratory scientists demonstrated use of the Grifols Erytra automated blood typing system.
The visit was sponsored by the Congressional Office for International Leadership – COIL (formerly, the Open World Leadership Center), an agency that supports legislative diplomacy initiatives for members of Congress. The Council of International Programs in Chicago, www.cipchicago.org, coordinated the week of visits and meetings at hospitals and blood centers in the Chicago area.