The Ukrainian Red Cross Society is working on practical solutions to make first aid training accessible to everyone, including people with disabilities, URCS President Mykola Polishchuk has said.

"In 2023, we launched a scientific study on first aid initiated by a unit of the URCS first aid department led by Nadia Yamnenko. The aim of the study was to examine the capabilities of people who had themselves been injured, including those who had undergone amputations, to provide aid to others," Polishchuk said at the presentation of the study's findings on Thursday.

According to him, the study showed that "every person, regardless of their health condition, can learn to provide assistance to themselves and to others."

Polishchuk said the study is changing the approach to first aid training in Ukraine, in particular by identifying solutions to make first aid education accessible to all, including people with disabilities.

For her part, first aid master trainer Yamnenko said a large team of specialists had worked on the study, including professional psychologists, physical therapists, methodologists, educators and prosthetists.

"In addition, our partners in this study were ordinary people who were undergoing or had completed treatment or rehabilitation. Some were already using prostheses, some used wheelchairs, but they sincerely gave us feedback on what is actually possible and what is not," Yamnenko said.

She also added that cooperation with the Ukrainian Society of the Blind was very helpful in the study.

"We already had good experience of cooperation with the Ukrainian Society of the Blind in Kyiv and Zhytomyr, where they openly gave us feedback on what matters and what does not, and helped us understand what it means to live by touch," Yamnenko said.