Her father, Ivan Kyi, taught mathematics at the local school, while her mother, Halyna, managed a grocery store.

[citation needed] In 1985, Padalko started working as an obstetrician-gynecologist at Dnipropetrovsk Regional Oncologic Dispensary.

On 26 June 2012, the hospital was reorganized into the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Perinatal Center, where she remained Chief Physician.

In 2002, she was elected a deputy in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Council and stood as a candidate for parliament with the political party "Women for the Future".

She was a member of the standing committee of the regional council on the issues of entrepreneurship, the processing industry, trade, and consumer services.

[6] During Padalko's tenure as Chief Physician, first at the maternity hospital and later at the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Perinatal Center, she assisted in 5,843 births (3,006 boys and 2,837 girls).

[citation needed] In 1989, at the maternity hospital, the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Perinatology of the Faculty of Postgraduate Education at Dnipropetrovsk State Medical Academy was established at the initiative of Zinaida Dubossarska.