IFAK Patriot Defence: Saving Lives with Equipment and Education

The Ukrainian Credit Union is very proud to support Patriot Defence (www.patriotdefence.org) - an organization of the Ukrainian World Congress dedicated to educating and providing Ukrainian soldiers with the tactical knowledge and tools needed to perform simple, yet so-often critical first-aid procedures while in the field. Research shows that three injuries; severe bleeds, collapsed lungs, and blocked airways account for the majority of deaths in the battlefield. By putting the right tools in the right hands at the right time, Patriot Defence's initiatives have already helped dozens of our heroes find their way home to definitive care.

Patriot Defence provides IFAKs (Improved First Aid Kits) to soldiers and volunteers who have completed training courses much like the one in this video. These courses are the tactical combat casual care (TCCC) standard courses taught in all NATO countries, and will greatly improve the ability of Ukraine's soldiers and volunteers to save lives in the field.



The IFAKs are assembled in New York using first-rate (and coincidentally much more economically purchased) supplies and shipped to Ukraine for distribution.

At a cost of $100 per kit, Patriot Defence aims to send 10,000 units to brave men and women on the front lines. By training additional soldiers and battalion volunteers in advance of deployment, they will be able to bring greatly improved tactical medicine to our current positions and ideally share some of their knowledge with them too.

Д-р. Олександр Лінчевський, 

tactical medicine instructor with some of the guys.

This week is particularly exciting for Patriot Defence, as the Government of Canada announced it would be sending 100 personal first aid kits to supplement their efforts.

Additionally, this week marked the wrap-up of Ukraine's first tactical medicine conference (organized by the Ukrainian World Congress under the direction of Dr. Ulana Suprun,) where over 450 participants from around the world gathered to not only share policy and best practices with Ukrainian soldiers and trainers, but develop and establish official cooperative agreements and resolutions between participating organizations. Experts and representatives from Canada, the US, and other NATO nations were engaged in discussions, seminars, and workshops throughout the week, and on the last day of the conference, all participants, whether heading to the front or not, were invited to participate in a four-part tactical medicine crash course on essential tactics for saving yourself and a friend in the case of serious injury.

Photos from the conference can be viewed here
on the Ministry of Defense's facebook page.

As the situation in Eastern Ukraine continues to worsen, funding of such projects is imperative to not only literally save lives, but show support for our soldiers and our continued commitment to their success and safety on the front lines.






Information on making a donation can be found at http://patriotdefence.org//#help