On March 24-25 I visited the United Kingdom in order to see a special friend, Maurice Frohn with whom I had traveled to Ukraine on three occasions in 1996 and 1997. He has since founded the International Chernobyl Children's Trust which helps care for disabled children as a result of the 1986 nuclear accident in Chernobyl. We were holding our annual general meeting for which I was present as a trustee. We also held a special meeting at the Royal Society of Medicine in London where the executive administration of the Society and the Ambassador and Second Secretary of Ukraine were present.
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I arrived in London on Wednesday, March 25th and was met by John Ross Schroeder. I stayed at the home of Gerhard and Diana Marx in Harpenden, north of St. Albans.
The next day I traveled by train from Harpenden to King's Cross in London, then on to the Royal Society of Medicine located at at 1 Wimpole Street, just off Oxford Street.
Present at the meeting were Ambassador of Ukraine Volodymer Vassylenko, Second Secretary Natalia Martynenko, Royal Society of Medicine President Lord Soulsby, Executive Director Anne Grocock and Dean Jack Tinker. We discussed closer professional ties between doctors of Ukraine and the United Kingdom along with exchange of professionals and fellowships. We hope to arrange doctors visiting centers of excellence in both countries and gaining new information. We also hope that meetings on specific topics can be arranged.
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In our meeting it was brought up that 800,000 children require medical treatment. Problems span from immuno-deficiency to dental to orthopedic. Higher incidences of cancers are prevalent. The Ambassador and Second Secretary invited both Maurice Frohn and myself to the Ukrainian Embassy later in the day, but we had to decline because of schedule. We will come another time.
The Royal Society of Medicine is a charitable foundation. It is non political. The Society includes dental and veterinary care. It has opened a chapter in the United States. While we were visiting the society a conference about the roots of violence in children was in session.
Maurice Frohn is a lifetime member of the Royal Society of Medicine which has 17,000 Fellows.
After our meeting we left for Ashford in Kent where the Frohn's live for our Annual General Meeting which took place that evening. In our meeting we recounted what we had accomplished over the past year. Maurice Frohn has been lecturing non-stop throughout the entire United Kingdom and has raised funds for helping children in Ukraine. We have been been able to leverage funds substantially in order to purchase much needed medicine in Ukraine. Our last shipment of medicine was valued at $250,000. Over the next year we hope to continue what has been done and hopefully plan some lecturing in the United States.
That evening I traveled back to London with the Frohn's son Lawrence and his wife Juliet where I spent the night at their apartment. On Friday morning I took the special Heathrow Express from Paddington to the airport and was home before the sun set on Friday.