Reflections

As I depart from Krakow, I have a few observations. 

As our train departed the Kyiv rail station, a stabilization and evacuation train was pulling onto an adjacent rail line in the train station from the Donbas front. The day before we had visited a rehabilitation hospital for wounded soldiers. This hospital would take recently wounded soldiers who mostly had traumatic amputations and prepare them for definitive treatment and the physical and occupation rehabilitation that they would need. There was a high rate of limb wounds that were treated on the battlefield with life saving tourniquets. Unfortunately, it was difficult and dangerous to speedily evacuate soldiers from the battlefield due to continuing Russian artillery. Sadly for many Ukrainian soldiers, that delay has cost them many potentially salvageable limbs.

These trips can be transformative. All of the Americans on the trip have at least verbally committed to additional trips. One wants to come in the Spring, Summer or Fall. The cold weather was a little hard on him. I can sympathize but if I need to come during a cold time, I will. One of the others will come again in a few months and the other is on his third trip this time and will schedule another. I have two more trips scheduled (one funded already) in May and in September. I feel like I am supposed to be coming here and taking care of people.

Our Ukrainian staff are heroes. My translator missed the last dinner when he had to leave to bring some equipment to the eastern front. They were less nervous about the new US presidency than most of us on the team were. They have been dealing with blustering oligarchs for much longer than we have and they believe that they know the dance. Some even had some hope that the current US president could bring them some advantages. They certainly want the war to stop, but they have faith that they will work something out. I am praying with them.

I am fine tuning my my packing list. I wasn’t sure that I could pack everything that I needed into a carry on sized suitcase, but I did. I needed to reevaluate what I ‘needed’, especially since I brought a second pair of size 14 shoes (which I didn’t need) which occupied a lot of my suitcase. Especially in clinic, it doesn’t matter much what you wore. No shorts or jeans with holes (no problem for me in November or February) but otherwise your clothes just needed to be serviceable and above all else, warm.

For me, I can’t exactly say that this has been a transformative trip. I have been to the Ukraine before and to many other distressed areas providing help. I always find the helping of others in need to be ‘right’ and I will continue to do that as long as I am able.  I can say though, that this trip has reinforced my feeling of call to help the Ukrainian people as they suffer unjustly.

Thanks for following along with me. I will restart this blog for my next trip in May.