Stryi City Center for Social Services Lviv region works with NGO "Labor and Health Social Initiatives" (LHSI) in the project "You should know about tuberculosis" since 2022. Since the beginning of the war, thanks to the location and rapid self-organization of social workers and the population, many Ukrainians have been accepted here, some for 1-2 days to rest from the road, some for longer.
Initially, internally displaced persons (IDPs) permanently residing here were over 10 thousand, then 9, now stable 7,5.
«Currently, we have a lot of contact with IDPs, including children, families, and older people. - says Oleksandra Dumyak, social worker NGO "Labor and Health Social Initiatives" of the project “You Should Know About Tuberculosis”, as well as the director of the social services center. — In addition to tuberculosis (TB) screening and diagnostic testing, we help with other issues: we house someone, we recommend certain services to someone."
For example, a family from Dnipro: a grandfather, a son with his wife, and two children, who immediately registered as IDPs upon arrival. LHSI social workers counseled the adult family members, and as a result, they underwent a TB diagnosis. But the work did not end there. The family was referred to a psychologist at the social services center to work through the psychological trauma caused by the war. They helped them receive humanitarian aid in the form of food and hygiene products. They placed the children in a preschool and school. And the parents and grandfather found jobs. And after a series of consultations, the family purchased housing and became official residents of the community.
«Given the cooperation of our social services center with LHSI, we are able to provide comprehensive services (IDPs). - notes Oleksandra Dumyak. - This project gave us the opportunity to take a broader view of internally displaced persons. The project is very stimulating and provides an opportunity to involve internally displaced people who have come to places that are foreign to them in various spheres of activity. For example, thanks to our project, which is also being implemented in Lviv, someone found out that we focus on IDPs, told a public organization in Lviv, and they suggested that we organize a public leisure center 60+. We then collaborated with them - we came and got to know each other, told about the project, invited them for diagnostics, and found out other needs.».
Social workers work and involve all their knowledge. Like, for example, the experience of Israel “Life in Wartime”, they call this experience “building resilience”. And in communicating with project clients regarding prevention, screening, and tuberculosis diagnostics, they emphasize resilience. Resilience is very important now, during the war, when there is a lot of stress, when people were sitting in basements… But this is not just a dry presentation of information regarding the diagnosis of the respiratory system, the pulmonary system, etc.
As emphasized Oleksandra Dumyak: "We extract as much information as possible from people in order to then expand the scope of assistance and help to these people and their families. There are very good positive results, there are different results, there are results that end with a diagnosis, a certificate and some simple help. But there are real situations when we then organize such people for socialization, for life and revive them, because we understand that life does not end there. Even though the war".
Now, thanks to the project, social workers have found a large family, five children, two of whom are already adults. This is a family from Zaporizhzhia, they left only now, when they came under direct fire and one of the children was injured. The child has undergone 10 operations, now in Stryi they are preparing the child for the next operation, and the social center is looking for a wheelchair for her so that she can at least move around the apartment. It also turned out that they have practically no furniture. "We organized help for her with furniture, agreed with the landlords that everything would cost the family much less, at the expense of the city, helped arrange all possible payments, found donors to compensate for utility bills." — recalls Mrs. Alexandra.
Another case was when a woman came with her son. The son is autistic with a serious developmental delay and many associated disorders. With her is an elderly mother who cannot live with them due to the child's constant rather inadequate mobility. The project's social workers learned about this family and contacted the mother to have her diagnosed with TB. In order for her to be able to undergo this examination, they organized a day care service for the child, as well as a session for the mother with a psychologist.
«This is the first time since the war started that my child was taken away from me for two hours and I had coffee and was just able to talk to someone, go to the doctor. Because 24/7 with a child is very hard." — says the woman.
The boy has now been treated at the Zdorovya medical center, and he has started going to the day care service at the vitality center.
That is, if this family had not been discovered by LHSI social workers through the "You Should Know About Tuberculosis" project, they could have remained somewhere in the shadows and not received proper assistance.
It is also worth noting the excellent communication between social workers and the family doctor. There were even cases when he called the social services center and asked if they knew so-and-so, saying they had just arrived and had a bad cough, etc. And the social workers went straight to him and worked with the people there.
Yes, cooperation with NGO "Social Initiatives for Occupational Safety and Health", born by project "You should know about tuberculosis", leads to multifaceted assistance to people, enriches the community and the professional competence of social workers.
We would like to remind you that the project "You Should Know About Tuberculosis" is being implemented by the NGO "Social Initiatives for Occupational Health and Safety" (LHSI) with a grant from The Global Fund through Alliance for Public Health Alliance for Public Health.
On photo:
Social worker Mariana Nalapsha organized a meeting with IDP women, after they had undergone screening and then fluorography — "how to organize your time and be a resource"
Receiving humanitarian aid from charitable organizations
IDPs involved in resilience training
Participated in a jewelry making workshop
Art therapy - painting at the Social Services Center
Art therapy with IDP women whose husbands are at war
Involving IDPs in gingerbread painting (before Christmas)
