Healing with water was the topic of discussion at an international seminar in Bucha near Kiev, Ukraine. The event was organized by the Union of Poles in Bucha and the Ukrainian Humanitarian Institute on the occasion of the 160th anniversary of the birth of Vitold Kaminsky, a famous hydrotherapist who worked in Bucha. The details of the seminar are described in the TV program "Visti Nadiya."

Hydrotherapy can cure or at least reduce the effects of numerous diseases, including COVID-19, as was presented by hydrotherapy specialist Bogdana Pasechnik. During the seminar, she spoke in detail about the techniques, methods and techniques of hydrotherapy.

“This is the same as drinking water; it's just an external use,” she says. 

Larisa Georginova, seminar organizer, adds, “Natural remedies for healing can be preventive, and they can be effective. Hydrotherapy is in my opinion one such method which can be useful for every family: for adults, for children, and for seniors who are suffering.”

Pasechnik notes that water procedures have no side effects and they are quite safe, provided they are used correctly. At the seminar, she shared tips on how to turn ordinary water into effective medicine.

“Many methods of using water as a natural remedy source exist,” she shared, “from wrapping to pouring to compresses to baths. And all of them can be used at home."

One family which attended the seminar were given the opportunity to experience the effect of hydrotherapy firsthand. 

“My wife, when she was 30 years old, was diagnosed with rheumatic heart disease, that is, rheumatism of the heart,” explains Valery Petuschak, a seminar participant. “She had been undergoing medical treatment for about five years, and the state of her health worsened with time. The last time she was in the hospital, I asked the doctor why he couldn’t cure a young woman of only 30 years. He told me he himself had been dealing with rheumatic heart disease for over 40 years. At this, I began to question what we were doing to my wife.”

Amidst the great disappointment which gripped Petuschak after talking with the doctor reminded him about Kaminsky, whom he had heard about from his father, himself an outstanding hydropath. There was nothing to do but heed his advice.

“I began to make compresses for her at night, wrapping her swollen, inflamed, hot knees with cold rags,” Petuschak says. After the procedure, his wife felt worse. It seemed to her that she was burning, her whole body was scorching. When he touched her Petuschak says he got scared because she felt overly warm. However, the thermometer showed 36.6 degrees celsius (97.8 degrees fahrenheit).

“Six months later, we returned to the clinic for a checkup on her rheumatic heart disease in order to receive a certificate of health,” Petuschak says. “After the exam, the doctor wrote, ‘No rheumatic heart disease. No valve failure.’ When we showed it to the doctor, she did not believe us. But I cured my wife.” 

Ukrainian Humanitarian Institute students will study water physiotherapy in a Rehabilitation and Massage program, according to Lyudmila Shtanko, rector of the university.

“We have carried out several sessions for the certificate program, and now we are working on the issue of making this program a full-fledged one at the bachelor's level,” she says. “We want to make hydrotherapy one of the courses in this program.”

In addition, the Ukrainian Humanitarian Institute plans to create a project on the campus for hydrotherapy according to the Kaminsky method.

“We want to make paths according to his method, perhaps a pump room, perhaps other things as well,” Shtanko explains. “I think it will be interesting for both students and people who come to our campus to get to know each other while practicing these methods.”

Vitold Kaminsky belonged to a Polish noble family and lived and worked in Ukraine, in the city of Bucha. Larisa Georginova, a member of the Union of Poles in the city of Bucha, spoke during the seminar about the popularity of the hydrotherapist's methods of treatment.

“A lot of people were going to see him,” she shared. “If you read these publications, which were shared by the old-timers of Bucha, we can see that people were driving from everywhere, some spending the night under the pine trees, and some renting apartments nearby. And, of course, patients or their relatives were willing to pay more in order to get to Kaminsky faster. Today there are chronic diseases that doctors cannot cure, but Kaminsky did it.”

About a century has passed since Kaminsky popularized his teaching and it remains in demand as a natural remedy for the treatment of diseases and health promotion.

This article was originally published on the Euro-Asia Division’s news site.