My last day in Ukraine. New team oriented. Busy day today. Over 70 patients, many with severe mental trauma. Children afraid to be outside, insomnia, and constant worry that the air raid siren means missiles will followed them. I am saying goodbye tomorrow morning to an amazing team who will continue this work with courage and [...]
Today we went to a small village outside Chenvistzi. There are many refugees there. We worked in a very small hospital/clinic and saw over 75 patients.The highlight was meeting a young boy 5 1/2 years old with a congenital heart condition. He had cyanosis lips and diaphoretic on exertion. Our doctor examined him and heard a [...]
It has been an emotional and exhausting few days. We have seen many patients, several with really sad situations. A few women with cancer who had to leave their homes amidst the bombings. Due to the war they cannot get the chemotherapy they need. Chemotherapy agents are just not possible now for anyone. Another tragedy of [...]
Oh, the stress of war on the human body and soul. Today we held so many weeping people in our arms. And people who never had high blood pressures with bps so high. One gentleman who is alone in the shelter with no family, who has lost his home to bombings, came to us with a [...]
This beautiful child we saw in clinic today has just lost her father. He was a civilian soldier fighting for his homeland in Kyiv. This is the painful reality of war, fatherless children and a young widow.Fighting continues, bombs continue to be dropped. The humanitarian corridors were supposed to be open for some hours yesterday for [...]
Met with the head of Ministry of Health for western Ukraine today. We met at the humanitarian distribution center where international NGOs and governments shipments come. From there volunteers sort and ship out to the areas of need. When we asked about the drivers he said that they were heroes, as the humanitarian corridors are not [...]
A warm and sunny day today. The HOG team went across the border to Ukraine and I stayed in Romania. I spent the day buying medications, organizing medications and doing the paperwork. I arranged a shipment from Omar’s to Kharkiv for tomorrow. We are preparing to transition to Team 2. First person to arrive is Lina [...]
Crossing the border from Romania to Ukraine today we met a woman going back into Ukraine, She was crying. She had just brought her daughter to Romania and was leaving to return to Kyiv because she had an invalid mother there. She had to return to care for her because there was nobody else. Her journey [...]
This morning, arriving at another refugee shelter in the university dorm, people were really stressed and exhausted. Liviv was bombed last night and the air raid sirens went off starting at 3 am until 5 am. They go off whenever a missile is detected. The people have to leave their beds and go into a make [...]
This morning, crossing the border, we saw 2 youngish-looking women saying goodbye to their husbands. Long hugs, many tears. I couldn’t take their photo and intrude on what could be a final moment between them. I barely held back my tears thinking, could I say goodbye to my husband or son knowing he was an unprepared, [...]
