December 2022 Update
————————————————————————————————————
December 31, 2022
Just before the New Year – another report.
The shipments of medicine sent on the 27th of November reached Odessa and Vinnytsia. The medications you collected for the refuge shelter were transferred to the RFU. More is on the way.
Happy New Year! Thank you everybody for your help and support! And let our collective wish of Victory and Peace for Ukraine come true!
————————————————————————————————————
December 27, 2022
We are coming back from Berlin. Easy ride by our standards. The patient has a very bad diagnosis, and after “adventures” in Ukraine, he was not in the best condition, which required monitoring, but God will provide, and everything will be fine with him.
All I can say about Berlin is that even late at night, in a state changed after 12 hours of riding, you can find food in the city. Fine!
Our Nika is packed to the brim - we are bringing New Year's gifts for Ukrainian hospitals. Generators, medicine, that's all... Local volunteers loaded us notably!
We are always happy when we return empty. And diesel and we are not wasted.
I think this is the last mission of this year. It is time for Nika to go for the maintenance.
————————————————————————————————————
December 23
Dr. Borya and Eyecare for Ukraine played the role of collective Santa Claus, and together with Mist, we worked as reindeer. The package sent to ophthalmologists in Ternopil broke all speed delivery records - it was sent on December 10th, and today the recipient received it. A photo and congratulations are attached. 13 days from door to door.
————————————————————————————————————
December 21 -23, 2022
Przemyśl, PL - Lviv, UA – Hamburg, DE – Hanover, DE - Przemyśl, PL
Distance: ~2700 km
Cost of the mission: ~$1500
The day before the mission, we had to buy an infant car seat. We knew we would transport the infant; the family did not have the seat, and none was available for us to borrow.
Got up at 6:15 AM, left base at 7 am, and started towards Lviv. At the train station picked up a family of four – two kids, a wife, and a husband with limited mobility, who is not able to sit for more than 30 minutes.
Due to the lack of emergency lights on the ambulance (removed because of UK regulation when the ambulance was transferred to Ukraine) we lost almost four hours going through checkpoints and going around the VERY LONG line at the border crossing. Finally crossed the border and was on the way to Germany.
We dropped off our clients at 4.15 AM near Hamburg and were supposed to go to the hotel. Surprise! Because we were not sure our patient would be able to tolerate such a long transport and had a big chance we would have to stop for the night on the road, we did not book the hotel in advance. The decision to continue all the way was made around 9.00 PM. At this point, Alexander Zharov went to the booking website and reserved the hotel from the road (the internet connection was not reliable). We said goodbye to our passengers, pushed the direction button on the confirmation e-mail, and “WHAT?!!!”. It turned out that our hotel was in Hanover – almost a three-hour drive from our current location. We were faced with a very hard discussion: pay more money and try to find something local or try not to kill ourselves on the way to Hanover. After a short discussion we decided saving money is more important. Also, we didn’t have enough fuel to get there. Did you ever try to find diesel in Germany in the middle of nowhere during the night? You should try it someday (night).
We arrived in Hanover around 8.30 AM. The hotel site said, “free parking on the street.” Aha. Good luck! There were some open spots for the tiny European vehicles, but not for the full-size UK ambulance. Finally, we found a spot between two cars, did a fantastic parking job (see the picture below; no cars were hit/damaged in the process), and went to the hotel. We looked pretty good because the front desk attendant told us: “I think you should go to bed now. I check you in when you wake up”.
We woke up around 4 PM, went downtown for breakfast/lunch/dinner, come back to the hotel around 9 PM, and dropped into bed again.
We left the hotel at 6:30 AM the next day and finally arrived at the base around 10.30 PM.
The total cost for the run was around $1500, including fuel, accommodation, supplies, and maintenance for the ambulance after the run.
————————————————————————————————————
December 19, 2022
One more shipment was delivered from Massachusetts and New Hampshire to Kherson Hospital.
————————————————————————————————————
December 14, 2022
Another crazy day. You can’t find oxygen in Ukraine. It is turned out it is also a big problem in Poland. Our ambulance had a UK-standard oxygen delivery system that was incompatible with Poland standards. Also, obtaining oxygen itself here is a big problem too. Fortunately, the local Fire Chief connected us to the right people.
The downside – it cost us another $700.
We spent the entire day (eleven hours) solving this problem. When we left the base in the morning, we thought we would return in a couple of hours. We came home around 7:30 PM and finally had our well-deserved breakfast.
————————————————————————————————————
December 13, 2022
After the last mission, it became obvious that our ambulance needed significant repair. We are using our vehicles without mercy and need to take care of them. So as soon as “Nika” came back from Ukraine, Alexander Zharov took her to the shop. Today (eleven days later), we finally got her back. Also, we had to replace the tires on “Juno,” which was working double all this time. The snow is on the ground, and yesterday we could not climb the hill to our base.
We paid in total $1600. Unfortunately, it is not the end of it. We would have to take care of a couple of problems pretty soon (more spending).
But at least our ambulance is on the road again. Tomorrow we will try to obtain the oxygen for the ambulance and most likely will go on the mission Thursday if the coordinators will be able to work out the final details for it in the next 36 hours.
————————————————————————————————————
December 11, 2022
Two shipments were sent this week:
Medical supplies to Kharkiv, City Clinical Hospital of Ambulance and Emergency Medicine - 6 huge boxes of trachea and IV units, 227 lbs
Ophthalmology supplies from our doctors to Ternopil - 4 boxes, 93 lbs
The total cost of shipping $1004.60
Endless thanks to all our donors for their contributions, and especially grateful to "Ziggy's Tours" in South Boston and pan Zdislav Mazurek - for their cooperation.
————————————————————————————————————
December 10, 2022
Our beloved ambulance, “Nika,” is still in the shop for repairs. The roads of Ukraine did a number on the poor girl. We hope to get her back around the 14th. Meanwhile, we are still sorting and repacking our staff and working with coordinators on planning missions, so we will be ready to go as soon as we get our ambulance back.
————————————————————————————————————
December 7, 2022
Alexander Smirnov arrived in Poland.
————————————————————————————————————
December 1, 2022
Dmitriy Lee returning to the USA.
Base relocation completed.
