This main purpose of this short trip is to transport urgent medications and medical supplies into Ukraine and especially the under sieged areas of Ukraine before all transportation routes are destroyed or closed. Therefore the 10 suitcases contained mostly water filtration straws, emergency blankets / sleeping bags, emergency trauma kits, and emergency medications and medical supplies. Although the initial intention was not to provide medical relief for the refugees in Poland, as per the news there should already be solidarity and many international aides in Poland. However, such was not the case when our team arrived in Warsaw Central Train Station, one of the largest receiving sites for the Ukrainian refugees. There was no medical doctor on site. The medical tents were operated by the Polish EMTs and volunteers. The moment they heard that we are two doctors from America, they immediately gave us two volunteer vests and sent us into the main medical tent to see patients. After a short while, we were requested to go to a nearby refugee camp called the Expo which at that time housed 7,000 to 10,000 refugees (the number of refugees from Ukraine increased drastically from over 1 million to 3 million in less than the one week that we were there and at the time of this writing, Poland is housing nearly 2 million of refugees). However, at the Expo, we quickly learned that the refugee camp administration team has already placed a private clinic there. As it turns out, Poland has 2 main healthcare systems: public and private. Because of the rapidly increasing number of refugees, the private clinics & hospitals all stepped in to help. In fact, it seems like most of the people in Warsaw were volunteering to help the refugees when they are not working their regular jobs. By the time we left Warsaw, the systems seem more organized. Though we did not see many non-Polish international aide teams, we did see many busloads of supplies such as shoes, clothing, and blankets. There is definitely solidarity in Poland, and we are so deeply touched by the love, kindness and support that continue to flood into Poland from all over the world. It was a blessing to be a witness amid all this.
The second purpose of our trip is to collect as much information as possible in order to best offer our aide medically. As we learned more from the people who just came out of Ukraine, from local Polish clinics and pharmacies, from speaking with people inside Ukraine, and from mission teams who have been established in Ukraine even prior to the war, we were shocked and saddened to learn that not many large humanitarian aides and medical teams were able to successfully enter the deeper parts of Ukraine, and therefore most of Ukraine are pretty much left to fend for themselves. We learned about groups who are experienced especially during war or disaster types of situations: Direct Relief, MSF (Doctors Without Borders), Samaritan's Purse, etc., and got to speak with some of their local teams. However, we also saw many international organizations who would ship to Poland or even into the border city Lviv, due to lack of means for distribution or an understanding of the true needs, that their boxes or supplies would be just piled in some corners. If you or your group would like information on urgent items needed or where to send the items, please use the contact page to send a quick note, and please specify if you would also like the list of specific medications and medical supplies in need. Meanwhile, ABC will continue to finetune our effort in the hopes of being able to offer a sustainable medical assistance even for post-war rebuilding (pray this will be very soon).
The third purpose of our trip is exactly as stated above, to establish a base camp in order to continue to provide medical aide and medical supplies. The one concerning need is management of severe PTSD, not only in adults but especially in children. During the few days working with the refugees, I saw many, if not all, children exhibiting signs & symptoms of acute stress disorder to various degrees; many will go on to develop PTSD especially most of these children will no longer be able to grown up with the male figures in their lives (men between ages 18-60 are no longer allowed to leave Ukraine, therefore most of the refugees are women, children and elderly people). There will be a large need for comprehensive and extensive counseling, psychotherapies, and even pharmacotherapy, let alone treatment for permanent injuries sustained during the war. If you are in related fields and would like to join us for either immediate assistance or long-term assistance, please also use the contact page to contact us....
The second purpose of our trip is to collect as much information as possible in order to best offer our aide medically. As we learned more from the people who just came out of Ukraine, from local Polish clinics and pharmacies, from speaking with people inside Ukraine, and from mission teams who have been established in Ukraine even prior to the war, we were shocked and saddened to learn that not many large humanitarian aides and medical teams were able to successfully enter the deeper parts of Ukraine, and therefore most of Ukraine are pretty much left to fend for themselves. We learned about groups who are experienced especially during war or disaster types of situations: Direct Relief, MSF (Doctors Without Borders), Samaritan's Purse, etc., and got to speak with some of their local teams. However, we also saw many international organizations who would ship to Poland or even into the border city Lviv, due to lack of means for distribution or an understanding of the true needs, that their boxes or supplies would be just piled in some corners. If you or your group would like information on urgent items needed or where to send the items, please use the contact page to send a quick note, and please specify if you would also like the list of specific medications and medical supplies in need. Meanwhile, ABC will continue to finetune our effort in the hopes of being able to offer a sustainable medical assistance even for post-war rebuilding (pray this will be very soon).
The third purpose of our trip is exactly as stated above, to establish a base camp in order to continue to provide medical aide and medical supplies. The one concerning need is management of severe PTSD, not only in adults but especially in children. During the few days working with the refugees, I saw many, if not all, children exhibiting signs & symptoms of acute stress disorder to various degrees; many will go on to develop PTSD especially most of these children will no longer be able to grown up with the male figures in their lives (men between ages 18-60 are no longer allowed to leave Ukraine, therefore most of the refugees are women, children and elderly people). There will be a large need for comprehensive and extensive counseling, psychotherapies, and even pharmacotherapy, let alone treatment for permanent injuries sustained during the war. If you are in related fields and would like to join us for either immediate assistance or long-term assistance, please also use the contact page to contact us....