Emergency Support for Ukrainian Refugees

Immediately after the July 8th missile attacks on the Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital in Kyiv and other facilities in cities across Ukraine victimizing more than 40 people, Peace Winds started emergency aid activities providing hot meals, hygiene kits, and electric appliances for the child patients and their families as well as those who evacuated from the damaged collective house.

Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital is the biggest central children’s hospital in Ukraine and provides advanced medical care. Children with cancer including leukemia and brain tumor had been treated when a missile hit the hospital in central Kyiv. Some children could do nothing but wait for help in the dark since they were in too critical conditions to be evacuated to the underground shelter.

In the following weeks after the attacks, Peace Winds delivered special food, powder milk, skin care cream and sanitary products for babies and children with cancer or other serious illness who were transferred from the Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital to other hospitals in Kyiv. We delivered hot meals for the parents of the child patients because they had no time nor access to proper meals while taking care of their children in critical conditions. Peace Winds also provided hot meals to those who evacuated from the damaged collective house. Well-balanced hot means were prepared by a popular Ukrainian restaurant chain Puzata Hata.

More than 340 children from the Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital were transferred to nine hospitals in Kyiv. Due to sudden increase of patients, some of these hospitals suffered shortages of air conditioners, washing machines, and water heaters. Peace Winds provided some of these equipment as well as electric fans that turned out to be useful in a time of emergency with frequent power outages.

To Kyiv Children’s Hospital No.1, which accepted 35 patients from the Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital, Peace Winds provided five refrigerators and five boilers.

Some of the child patients were from foreign countries. One of such patients we met was from the neighboring Moldova. Since it was difficult for her baby to receive the necessary care for the baby’s troubled heart, the mother took the risk of coming to Ukraine seeking advanced treatments. The baby had been treated at the Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital when a missile hit the hospital. They took temporary refuge at the neighboring Center of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery.

By the end of July, some of these child patients returned to the Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital, where they call their “second home”. However, part of the hospital is still out of use and requires major reconstruction.

With your help, we will be able to provide more support to the people in Ukraine. We truly appreciate your contribution. Thank you.