REACHING OUT TO UKRAINE’S REFUGEES: HADASSAH’S HUMANITARIAN MISSION IN POLAND

We’ve all seen pictures from the Polish refugee centres—halls filled end-to-end with mattresses, mothers trying to keep children of all ages occupied while nearly overwhelmed themselves with anxiety and uncertainty, older people grasping their possessions, overcome with being suddenly uprooted, some not for the first time.

Into this confusion steps the staff of the Hadassah’s Humanitarian Mission, dressed in bright yellow vests that immediately identify them as medical support. Hadassah doctors and nurses make their way around the large halls and smaller refugee centres, all the while interacting with the Ukrainians, identifying people in need of medical care, reaching out to those too  afraid to ask for help.

During one of the visits, David “Dush” Barashi, Hadassah’s medical clown, noticed an 8-year-old boy, pale and fragile. Carefully and empathetically, Dush approached the boy and his mother and convinced them to come to the clinic for a checkup. The mother even had her son’s medical records with her. No pressing medical problems were found, but notes made at the visit will ensure that the boy receives the appropriate follow-up care in the future.

Dr. Rivka (Rebecca) Brooks, a mission member and newly appointed head of Paediatrics at Hadassah Hospital Mount Scopus, coordinated with the Polish Red Cross to set up a schedule of regular visits to refugee centres, hostels, and even private homes that are hosting refugee families:

 “It is an honour for any Hadassah staff to be part of this mission,” Dr. Brooks remarks. “All paediatricians working at Hadassah Mount Scopus are used to giving the best medical assistance to everybody, should they be Israeli or Palestinian. This is the case also while helping the Ukrainian refugees. We do the very best humanly and professionally possible.”

Dr. Brooks continues, “It is irrelevant where we are. If we can help somehow, even if we have very little we can give, that is enough. We can spread goodness in the world starting with small gestures!”

EDITORS NOTES:

Nobody can be unaffected by the conflict in Ukraine, so this year Hadassah UK have decided to split our appeal to also support Hadassah Hospital’s Humanitarian Medical Mission in Lublin, Poland and on the Ukrainian Border.

In response to the Ukrainian refugee crisis, Hadassah Hospital have sent a team together with medical supplies within a week of the start of the Ukrainian war, to Lublin Hospital near the Polish/Ukrainian border and a forward base at Przemysl right on the border crossing point.

This was to initially assess the medical needs of the Ukrainian refugees and help train the Polish medical teams in mass casualty triage & A&E, an area that Hadassah has specialised knowledge and experience gained in the Intifadas and wars. The delegation of Hadassah doctors bring with them an intimate knowledge of wartime and disaster relief medicine and the physical and human infrastructure needed to handle sudden large mass influxes of patients.

Hadassah UK’s and your support is critical to ensuring Hadassah can continue to help the Ukrainian people with their medical needs. We are committed to helping for as long as we are needed.

PLEASE DONATE HERE TO HELP HADASSAH HEAL UKRAINIAN REFUGEES