We have partnered with the Medical Life Lines Ukraine who deliver Ambulances in regular convoys to Ukrainian hospitals. It has been an absolute pleasure working with the like-minded people towards the common goal. Here are just a few deliveries that the good people at the Medical Life Lines have done with us so far.
We have sent some very valuable orthopaedic metalwork to Oleksii, a trauma surgeon and a head of department at a Dnipro hospital, who is also the hero of one of my stories.
Some valuable nearly expired anaesthetic disposables donated by the hospital that I work at have been delivered to doctors working at a stabilisation facility on the Eastern frontline.
Airway management devices (AirTraq videolaryngoscopes) with the anaesthetists at the Khmelnitsky Hospital.
Tactical medical equipment at the Eastern frontline with Volodymir, a medical student turned combat medic with a special forces unit.
And a portable capnograph donated by our German friends already being used on a critically wounded soldier requiring artificial lung ventilation.
Medical books donated by my Southampton hospital colleagues with the anaesthetists at St Martin’s Clinic in Mukachevo in the Western Ukraine.
Nearly expired anaesthetic disposables (various airway and intravenous access devices) with anaesthetists and Intensive Care doctors at the Odessa Regional Paediatric Centre.
And some of them at work:
A portable ventilator, videolaryngoscope and some airway devices delivered to Andrii (right on the picture), an Anaesthetist in charge of a mobile evacuation unit operating on the Southern frontline.
Andrii, an anaesthetist from the Kyiv hospital that I visited in March, 2023 (see his story in the Stories section) is putting some of the kit that I have sent to them to good use. Here, he is doing a femoral nerve catheterization on a wounded soldier using the set from a recent shipment.
Dmitri, an Anaesthetist working at the Kharkiv Military Hospital (see his story above) with a book on Trauma donated by a colleague of mine, and boxes of disposables donated by the Southampton ICU technicians.
Night shift camaraderie.
We will continue doing the work that we have been doing together with the Medical Life Lines. In addition, I have received a good news from the Charity Commision – our Charity UKROPS (Ukrainian Medical Operations) has finally been approved. With an official charitable status, it will hopefully be easier to raise money, receive grants and get involved in bigger projects helping Ukrainian medics to improve the quality of patient care as well as their working environment. I am also hoping to raise a substantial amount of money with my solo transatlantic rowing challenge planned for January, 2025. More news to follow.
