OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — As the war between Ukraine and Russia continues, more men, women and children are in need of medical help.

OU Health has started a program where they bring Ukrainian surgeons to Oklahoma City to train them in complex reconstruction techniques.

Operation Ukraine at OU Health brings in Ukrainian surgeons to teach them the latest practices, techniques and get them update with the latest technology, so they can take it back to their country and implement it there.

For example, the surgeons use smart glasses, so when they’re operating on a patient, they can broadcast it back here to OU Health if they need any assistance.

“Basically, these are surgical glasses that will livestream surgeries,” Dr. Mark Mims, Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon at OU Health said.

“These have been donated to the Ukrainian surgeons,” Dr. Mims said. “They’ll take them back with them and then while they are operating, they will be able to wear them and use them so that whatever they see, we are able to see here in Oklahoma in real time.”

Ukrainian surgeons have an influx of patients dealing with head and neck injuries due to the on-going war.

“With the recent conflict in Ukraine, they have experienced a very high volume of patients who experience very debilitating head and neck injuries,” Dr. Mims said. “Their current training does not include these complex techniques.”

“A lot of our patients require reconstructive surgery, and microvascular surgery to recover all the wounds after the huge mine blast injury or gunshots,” Mykola Sinyuk, MD at Lviv Military Hospital said.

Four Ukrainian surgeons are currently learning these techniques and will be sent back home once they have completed their training.

The smart glasses are a new add-on so if they have any trouble during a surgery, they can broadcast it live back to OU Health and receive help from Dr. Mims and his team, but the goal is for assistance to not be needed.

“The ultimate goal for Operation Ukraine Health is to allow the Ukrainian surgeons to train their own future generations,” Dr. Mims said. “Once we have a base cohort there that knows how to do these techniques, then they will be able to train other surgeons and hopefully we can fade into the background and let Ukrainians take care of Ukrainians.”

Until that time comes, Dr. Mims says they will continue to bring Ukrainian surgeons in every three to four months to train as many people as possible.