LUTSK
Volunteers are raising funds to purchase an MRT device for the wounded who hail from Volyn
According to volunteers, as of the evening of August 6, there were 64 wounded at the Lutsk garrison military hospital. Medics also awaited the arrival of another 10 injured persons. The information on patients in fact changes every several hours.
There are no seriously-wounded patients here – the soldiers mostly have wounds in the upper and lower extremities, shoulders, etc. Most of the men can already walk on their own or leaning on crutches. One of the problems is that the hospital is housed in what used to be a monastery, and there is no elevator in it. This hospital does not need to have a blood stock, for transfusion is a rare occurrence.
Volunteers began to work when the first wounded arrived at the hospital. They had received injuries near Volnovakha. As there is a marketplace next to the hospital, entrepreneurs willingly bring fresh vegetables and fruit to the wounded. Volunteers and charity activists made sure that there were air conditioners, fridges, TV sets, fans, and microwave ovens in the wards. The guys are asking for jalousies to be fixed in the wards. There are also enough medicines for the wounded.
There are no special demands to volunteers, for the patients have no serious wounds and, hence, there is no need to tend them all the time.
Natalia Aryvaniuk, a volunteer who cares about the hospital, says that the No.1 problem for the Lutsk military hospital is absence of the magnetic resonance tomography (MRT) device for examining the wounded, for it is rather difficult to take them to the regional or city hospital every time because it still hurts them to walk. The first two days of fund raising fetched almost 18,000 hryvnias and 300 dollars. Negotiations are still in progress with the firms that deal in medical equipment to acquire a new inexpensive device or a used, but still a good, one. A charitable person is prepared to renovate the room where the MRT device will be installed. The hospital has specialists in this field.
Volunteers are very proud of the Lutsk military hospital’s chief Oleksandr Khomenko who went through the Afghanistan inferno and was himself wounded in the leg and is now taking care of the wounded. Volunteers call him doctor with a God-given talent.
On the whole, the wounded are in an elated mood. They are a bit tired of journalists’ attention, but they understand that it will be difficult to raise funds without media people’s visits.
Here are details for remitting money for the Lutsk military hospital to purchase an MRT device:
Cards in PrivatBank
5168 7420 1686 1621 – hryvnias
5168 7420 1686 1613 – USD
5168 7420 1686 1605 – euros
Recipient: Natalia Anatoliivna Aryvaniuk
By Olena KUZMYCH, Lutsk
KYIV
In Kyiv, Ukrainian ATO servicemen are treated in several hospitals: the Central Clinical Hospital of the State Border Security Service of Ukraine, the Central Hospital of Ukraine’s Interior Ministry, the Burns Center, the Central Hospital of Ukraine’s Security Service, and the Main Military Clinical Hospital
Work with volunteers is organized best of all at the Main Military Clinical Center. The lists of the necessary things and medicines, requirements for donors, volunteers, and psychologists are updated daily on the Facebook page of the Volunteers Hundred group. One can read here about campaigns and initiatives for the benefit of the army, the histories of the wounded combatants, remit funds onto their accounts, etc. Everything is very convenient and easy to grasp. One can also find all the necessary contacts here.
Aid for the wounded boys can be delivered here:
Reception dispatcher or volunteers’ drugstore – hospital entrance on Laboratorny Provulok in the blind alley towards the roadway gate, on the right. Open between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m.
ATO aid reception points:
21bБ, Boulevard Verkhovnoi Rady, ground floor on the right
Hot line number: (063) 858 31 40, (099) 422 86 91
Open between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m.
Aid for wounded and medicines for ATO area:
PrivatBank 5168 7420 1680 3284
Natalia Voronkova
PayPal: volonteers.hundred@ gmail.com
The Day was told at the Central Clinical Hospital of the State Border Security Service of Ukraine that there are some problems, but they are quickly solved by volunteers, so they do not publish any lists on social networking sites and the media.
As our interlocutor from the State Border Security Service, who asked us not to reveal his name, said, everything in the hospital was organized with the help of Kyiv volunteers, and some help is also coming from Europe. “We have all we need, and if something is not there, we try to act quickly. Volunteers are doing everything in the hospital: they find medicines, equipment, uniform, foodstuffs, water, and civilian clothes. But bedside nurses are not needed according to the table of organization,” our interlocutor says. “In some cases we lag behind a little – it is about uniform and army boots: our boys can’t possibly be sent to the front line barefooted and poorly clothed. We have three positions: firstly, to admit and cure; secondly, to help improve health in a rest-and-leave area; and, thirdly, to clothe and boot, give individual protection appliances and, if possible, bullet-proof vests and helmets. Incidentally, we issue the uniform made in a NATO country, not in Ukraine – the same also applies to gloves, field glasses, etc. The Ukraine-made uniform is not fit for combat actions. Wars taught NATO countries to properly sew the uniform. They know what kind of an outfit the soldier should wear, what threads it should be sewn with to prevent it from burning. This is why we try to fully dress our front-line-bound boys in the things made in NATO countries. One set of this gear costs about 2,500-3,000 hryvnias. We are solving this problem little by little.”
Now about the Irpin military hospital. “There are much more boys being admitted to the hospital now. I cannot disclose the number of patients, but there are many of them even compared to what was a month ago,” says Natalia Zavadska, volunteer group coordinator at the Irpin military hospital. “We have a group of volunteers with a ‘floating’ work schedule. Volunteers receive the wounded and keep track of their wishes. I supervise the resettlement of patients and keep in touch with hospital doctors and management about the wounded and their needs.
“Now we need a person who can spend at least a few hours a day in the hospital. It would be better if this person lived in Irpin. Somebody must mingle with the boys and the people who visit them, come to know the wishes of patients, and deliver to them what people bring over. The medicine requirements are constantly changing. We periodically buy such orthopedic items as fixators and orthotics. And such things as water, cigarettes, top-up cards, and portable TV sets are always needed.”
The needs of Irpin hospital patients are published on the group’s Facebook page “Irpin Military Hospital. Helping ATO Wounded,” The list of the needed items is being constantly updated. For instance, as of August 6, there was a need in the following items: flags of Ukraine, top-up cards, fumigators, T-pieces, extension cords, used TV sets, teapots, (used) bags and backpacks, juices (especially tomato), and cigarettes. The group says that doctors ask not to bring sausage because it is hot now as well as home-cooked food. Besides, volunteers ask visitors to bring prepackaged foodstuffs, for it takes time and effort to parcel out, for example, the fruits brought in a box. It is also possible to visit a patient on your own if you manage to make a deal with the unit’s officer of the day.
At the Central Hospital of the Interior Ministry of Ukraine and the Central Hospital of the Security Service of Ukraine, we were told that they have everything necessary and need no additional help – neither medicines nor blood nor volunteers.
By Maria PROKOPENKO, Maria SEMENCHENKO, The Day
