About Valerie Hellermann

Valerie works endlessly toward her lifetime goal: To build a stronger, healthier, equitable and peaceful global community.

Ukraine Wrap Up – 9.30.2023

2023-10-05T21:59:28+00:00September 30th, 2023|Categories: Ukraine|

Ukraine Wrap Up “The war is always in the recesses of our mind, yet we live as normal as possible. If we cry, Russia wins.” Repeating themes we were told: We are stronger and more united than ever before in our history. We have been growing economically and we work to continue that growth. We go [...]

Doctors and their Bags – 9.25.2023

2023-10-01T01:38:23+00:00September 25th, 2023|Categories: Ukraine|

Doctors and their Bags This second trip to Ukraine as a Medical supply courier reinforced the importance of these supplies to the work that these orthopedic trauma surgeons are doing. We are moved by how humble and dedicated these doctors are. Per Dr. Rhikter, “We had to learn how to treat this new type of war [...]

This is a hard one – 9.24.2023

2023-09-24T21:12:14+00:00September 23rd, 2023|Categories: refugee, Turkey|

There is a shortage of medical care here as all the hospitals were destroyed. Woah … it is so hot today! It will be 97. The mosquitos are bad. We all have bites all over us. We are about halfway through our Türkiye commitment for team 1. Team 2 arrives Oct 6 and I leave for [...]

The Bus – 9.20.2023

2023-09-24T21:10:20+00:00September 20th, 2023|Categories: refugee, Ukraine|

Extraordinary ways people are helping people Imagine having severe physical disabilities and because of the invasion you are making the decision to leave family and country with the likelihood you may never see them again. Crossing the border from Poland into Ukraine we met  Lucas (lives in Poland near German border), Paulina (Ukrainian living in Poland) [...]

Team 1: Hatay Türkiye – 9.16.2023

2023-09-24T21:11:49+00:00September 19th, 2023|Categories: refugee, Turkey|

The immensity of the tasks to recovery will take years and are overwhelming. We started in another Syrian camp where there is a lot of healthcare needs and the police came and told us to leave. We still seem to not have permission to help the neediest - which are the Syrian refugees. We packed up and [...]

Working in Turkey – 9.15.2023

2023-09-23T18:17:29+00:00September 15th, 2023|Categories: refugee, Turkey|

SETTING UP IN TURKEYThe Middle East is in turmoil: earthquake in Morrocco , floods in Libya. It has changed our plans a bit as medical first response teams in Turkey needed to leave for those new disaster zones. Our team split up. Hands On Global has sent three people to deliver supplies in Ukraine and then [...]

Reflections in Lviv, Ukraine – 3.16.23

2023-09-24T17:08:17+00:00April 1st, 2023|Categories: refugee, Ukraine|

UKRAINE CONFLICT   This morning I was on my own in Lviv, a large urban city in the Ukraine.  It feels no different like being in a city center like San Francisco, Budapest, Vienna, Hamburg, etc.  I’m thankful we have a place to stay in the city center as it is so easy to be just another [...]

March 21: Reflections from a Cemetery

2023-03-22T20:30:51+00:00March 21st, 2023|Categories: refugee, Ukraine|

UKRAINE CONFILCT   Reflections on walking through a cemetery of fresh graves of Ukrainian soldiers.We did not start out looking for this place. Had we known we were going to come across it, we might have shied away. We just walked around a corner and there it was - we were shocked, yet drawn in. A mixture [...]

March 20: To Save a Limb or Not

2023-03-21T00:57:47+00:00March 21st, 2023|Categories: refugee, Ukraine|

UKRAINE CONFILCT   Spent the day visiting patients. Many are far from families. We brought oranges and chocolate, massaged some hands and toes. We joked and chatted through a translator and hope we eased some of the pain or at least provided a distraction. Some were clearly in a lot of discomfort. Pain is treated with ibuprofen. [...]

March 17: Today we met the war

2023-03-21T00:45:08+00:00March 17th, 2023|Categories: refugee, Ukraine|

UKRAINE CONFILCT   Today we met the war. We drove to Zytomyr to deliver ortho supplies to a clinic. On the two hour drive we passed bombed out buildings, houses, bridges. In the town we saw the school, apartment buildings, houses and hospital that were hit by missiles.The hospital that is still standing has many complex patients, [...]

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