A damaged outpatient clinic with cracked walls, where Kateryna examines patients. She has all the necessary equipment with her – patients who will not be able to come later or reschedule are waiting for her here. The corridors are not as noisy as in other clinics. The ceiling is broken here and the electricity was only recently restored.

This is how people from the de-occupied territories of the Kherson region get medical care – due to caring volunteer doctors who go there to help. Kateryna is one of them, an ultrasound doctor from Ternopil who joined the trips with the NGO Casers. The woman told ShoTam about the things that impressed her the most during the trip and the reasons for her to come again.

Kateryna Lutsyshyn, the head of the Pulmonology Department, ultrasonographer of the Ternopil Phthisiopulmonology Medical Center

The occupation is not my childhood dream, but I would choose it again without any hesitation

I have been a doctor for 10 years. I can’t say that I’ve dreamed about it all my childhood, but I’m happy that things went this way. I’m grateful to my parents for giving me a little impetus towards this choice. I’ve never regretted becoming a doctor. Of course, this occupation has its challenges, but if I were in the 11th grade again and faced with the choice of application, I would do the same without any hesitation. I can’t imagine myself in another area, and sometimes I think I have no idea how to do anything else.

I learned about the volunteer visits to the de-occupied territories from the NGO Casers within the framework of the”Spilnodiia Program from the administrator of the hospital where I work. She was also planning to go and asked if I would like to join. I was interested. I filled out an application on the website, and they contacted me within a day offering to go even earlier than I expected. And already in a week I went to Kherson region.

There were four of us — me, a family doctor, a psychologist, and a driver. First, we got to Mykolaiv, and the coordinators of the NGO Casers met us there. We immediately went to the villages where people were waiting for us — we had one day for a settlement.

We also had all the necessary medicines and equipment with us. It was important for us to help people, prescribe medicines, and in more complex cases, refer them to further treatment.

We examined about 45 patients a day – not my usual workload, but I was ready for it. I told myself that I should do as much as possible and help everyone who I could because they probably wouldn’t get medical aid soon.

So, we examined all those willing except for people requiring profile doctors. Some colleagues visited the homes of bed-bound patients, some were delivered by ambulance by the NGO Casers employees – persons who couldn’t get to the outpatient clinic.

It’s not scary to go to Kherson region, it’s scary to be useless

So far I have been on such a trip only once. But I would go again, because I felt needed by the people living in the de-occupied territories, and realized that I could prove we also need them. Not some foreign organizations, but Ukraine. They are our people, fellow citizens. And why would a foreigner help them if we don’t? Therefore, I will definitely go again, and I will help the NGO Casers as much as I can, for example, I have already joined the online counseling of patients.

Why did I go? I feel that I am not doing enough for our victory though I can do more. That’s why I agreed. Honestly, I was afraid, but not because the de-occupied territories were dangerous, no. I was afraid that I would just come and would lack knowledge, and would not be able to help people. Many people asked me if I was afraid to go there. I’ve already explained: I was afraid of being useless.

We managed to visit two villages – Davydiv Brid and Lymanets. We spent the first day in Lymanets – our colleagues were already there, so we were just summarizing the documents. There we stayed in the old rural medical post.

Of course, I was impressed with the trip. I was impressed by the spirit of the people who were deprived of everything: their homes and a roof over their heads. But despite everything, they return home, start rebuilding, and get materials to have a home again. They do not flee abroad, on the contrary, they return and defend their homes. Even during the occupation, they fought the occupiers as they could.

I worked as an ultrasonographer, but often we were all psychologists for them. People share their stories, they need to speak out. I never ask first, because I understand that people have experienced horrors and many of them have lost relatives. But they share on their own accord. And when they realize they are being listened to attentively, they share even more. The people are sociable, which is way too amazing after all the stress these villages and residents have been through.

There are strong-spirited people in Davydiv Brid

The second day was devoted to Davydiv Brid. This village was occupied by Russians for 8 months, not a single intact house remained here. We also stayed in the old outpatient clinic. However, I knew that there was a new family practice clinic in the village before the full-scale war, which was destroyed by the Russians. The building where we stayed was also damaged – the ceiling and walls had holes

But they found relatively untouched offices for us, and we examined people there. NGO Casers helped to restore electricity and clean up the place due to the support of East Europe Foundation within the framework of the “Spilnodiia” Program. This program was created to comprehensively support the volunteer movement in Ukraine, to develop the potential of our volunteers, and to show their important role.

But this trip was successful not only due to the NGO employees but also due to the truly heroic story of the nurse Natalia. She worked as a paramedic in Davydiv Brid for more than 20 years. And when the “russian reality” came to the village, the occupiers found the woman at home. They insisted that she had to treat their soldiers. Natalia refused and told them they could shoot her, but she would not help.

Natalia had a special task – she secretly helped residents as she took equipment and patient cards from the new family practice clinic. She risked her life and health because when she went to get the equipment, she was conscious of the fact that she might not get back home. But she got whatever she could and kept it. It is an example of an altruistic person who is highly devoted to her work, and to her fellow residents, which is very inspiring.

Due to her, our activities in Davydiv Brid went smoothly and flawlessly – she carefully placed the saved patient cards in the “new” old outpatient clinic where we examined people. She put them in folders. She organized everything in such a way that no one was sitting by the offices, everyone knew their scheduled time. The residents’ attitude toward Natalia was clear – they treated her as a mother, a mentor, and a counselor.

I also remember a 70-year-old man from the same village. He lives here with his wife, their son died in the war in summer. The man came for an examination suffering from severe pain because the occupiers had injured his kidneys. We referred him for treatment because he needed surgery.

During the temporary occupation, the man helped the Armed Forces of Ukraine as he could, resisted the enemy — set their cars on fire, and stole their equipment. The Russians caught and beat him up, and then burned his documents. So when the Ukrainian authorities returned to the village, the issue of restoring the documents arose. It is a complicated process, and local officials refused the family. But I know that the NGO found lawyers to help him. People are offended, often in despair, if they get one refusal, they will probably never come again. And it shouldn’t be like that because they are our people and they went through hell during the occupation! I’m happy we go there and can help not only in solving medical issues.

The article was prepared within the framework of the “Volunteers: Working for Peace” special project. It includes several stories about volunteers – firefighters, doctors, and rescuers.

The special project was implemented as part of the “Spilnodiia” Program, executed by East Europe Foundation in partnership with the Ukrainian Center for Independent Political Research and NGO Together Against Corruption and financed by the European Union.

Translated from the original article on #ShoTam

You can watch a video about Olena Kozyr, a psychotherapist from Dnipro who has already visited Kherson region for three times, where she helped local residents, here.