7TH INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM “SMART LION”. REHABILITATION IN UKRAINE, SEPTEMBER 26, 2023

The seventh international symposium, SMART LION, was held on September 26, 2023. It was to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Shevchenko Scientific Society and the 125th anniversary of the Medical Commission. The topics concerned the challenges our country faces today. Organizers of SMART LION 2023 are Professors Valentyna Chopyak, Oksana Zayachkivska, and Vassyl Lonchyna. They managed to gather almost two hundred participants offline and over a thousand guests online. Olena Lazareva, Vira Rokoshevska, Oleh Bilianskyi, Oksana Hdyria, and Oleh Fitkalo delivered their reports on the development of rehabilitation in Ukraine and its main avenues. The emergence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a critical challenge for contemporary Ukraine and has long been a significant obstacle for global medicine. That is the reason why Oleh Berezyuk, Head of the Mental Health Service of the UNBROKEN National Rehabilitation Center, brought up the matter of difficulties in correctly diagnosing and treating PTSD in the context of a multidisciplinary hospital, while Professor Valentyna Chopyak and MD Svitlana Zubchenko focused the attention of attendees on PTSD immune-rehabilitation. During the concluding block of the symposium, which focused on the contemporary interpretation of physical therapy and occupational therapy, as well as interprofessional education, communication, and cooperation, attendees were afforded the chance to listen to highly intriguing reports presented by Renata Roman (Canada), Ellen Godwin (USA), Karl J. Sandin (USA), David Omut (USA), and Oksana Zayachkivska (Ukraine, USA). The scientific event concluded with a round table on the future of physical therapy and rehabilitation in Ukraine, with its outcomes leading to the resolution of the seventh international symposium, SMART LION 2023.