Visit of the Swedish delegation to Ukraine and launch of the Spinalis handbook
The event is multi-format, with an overview of the rehabilitation department, a presentation of the handbook and a panel discussion.
A high-level Swedish delegation, featuring prominent figures from industry, politics, and academia, will visit Ukraine in October. During this visit, Professor Claes Hultling will launch the Ukrainian version of the Spinalis handbook in a ceremony alongside Ukraine’s First Lady, Olena Zelenska.
Professor Claes Hultling, who has lived with a spinal cord injury since 1984, founded the Spinalis Foundation in 1991. Over the years, he has been instrumental in setting up spinal cord injury units in Gaborone, Botswana, and Windhoek, Namibia, and is working to establish a similar unit in Lusaka, Zambia.
Professor Hultling has been engaged in spinal cord injury care for over 42 years, primarily at the Department of Neurology at Karolinska University Hospital in Solna. He currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer of the Spinalis Foundation. Karolinska University Hospital has already received many injured soldiers from the war in Ukraine for specialized care.
The initiative to translate the Spinalis handbook into Ukrainian was taken by First Lady Olena Zelenska during her visit to Sweden in June 2023, where she met with Professor Hultling at Aleris Rehab Station and Spinalis in Frösundavik, Stockholm.