Rosalind Franklin Society Proudly Announces the 2023 Award Recipient for Medical Acupuncture

Abstract

Ukraine is a country of innovation and resilience, as we have witnessed since Russia began its war for Crimea in 2014. Since the February 2022 expansion of aggression, the country’s health care system has been overwhelmed. Struggling to recover from COVID in 2022, Ukrainian cities were quickly swamped with refugees who remain and continue to stretch dwindling resources.

Treating physical and emotional traumas that were unimaginable before 2022 has become a daily experience, whether or not the providers and the system are prepared to cope.

Into this picture, the use of auricular acupuncture for physical and emotional trauma has claimed a tiny fraction of the health care pie. It was made possible by relationships built on history, family, desperation evidence, results, and growing trust.

My 2019 Fulbright award launched a partnership with Dr. Pavlo Kolesnyk, MD within the Uzhhorod National University (UzhNU) College of Medicine in western Ukraine, to build a training program using auricular acupuncture to help the body and mind quickly resolve trauma and pain. In Spring 2019 we certified 24 medical providers and psychologists. COVID restrictions prevented my return to continue training but in March 2022 I responded to the war by reaching out to trainees and colleagues. We began meeting by Zoom and it soon became a biweekly meeting and a source of emotional support and stability for all of us. Other American and Ukrainian medical providers joined discussions, some from bunkers and others from the frontline. Invited by UzhNU, I returned in August 2022 with a train-the-trainer model and expanded curriculum to include full-body and scalp acupuncture techniques and invited by hospitals and rehabilitation clinics to work directly on soldiers. In 2023 I returned three more times to Uzhhorod and Lviv. More than 100 medical providers from 12 regions of Ukraine are trained and many continue the work. Six co-trainers have been certified to teach. Battlefield Acupuncture was introduced to a limited number of doctors and combat medics and has proven its worth in pain management and rehabilitation. In Spring 2024 we plan a hybrid course with Ukrainian trainers providing in-person lectures, demonstration and hands-on guidance supported by my team virtually from USA. An expanded virtual / synchronous course will be available to medical students beginning Fall 2024 within UzhNU’s medical curriculum, supported by trained medical residents. Four advanced medical-training computerized simulators were recently donated and will be used by UzhNU’s medical faculty for emergency field medical training, opening the possibility for a regional emergency medicine training program. I came to champion work in Ukraine not only because I am a 2^nd-generation Ukrainian, but I also know, trust and have witnessed how acupuncture helps people heal through outrageous tragedies. The work has truly become my journey from the heart.

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Biosketch

Celia Hildebrand, DAOM, LAc has worked in the field of health care delivery for almost 40 years, the last 25 spent in clinical practice and developing health care services, public health programs and facilities with American Indian tribes of the Southwestern USA. She earned both a Master (2002) and Clinical Doctorate (2015) in Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, with focused study and clinical practice in trauma, cardiovascular recovery & rehabilitation, and community health. In 2019 Dr. Hildebrand was awarded a Fulbright to teach acupuncture for pain, PTSD, and trauma in western Ukraine. She is on faculty with the University of Arizona - Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine, maintained a private clinic (Tucson) for years and is currently practicing within the Veterans’ Administration in Wilmington, DE.

Dr. Hildebrand maintains a deep appreciation for the Quixotic quest of tilting at windmills, bridging cultural divides, and exploring peace.