Broome County assists CCRF (01/03/93)

Broome County assists CCRF

BINGHAMTON/JOHNSON CITY, N.Y. - The Auxiliary to the Broome County Medical Society has begun a major effort to provide medicine, hospital supplies and diagnostic equipment to hospitals that are treating the victims of the 1986 nuclear accident in Chornobyl. Members are also collecting medical textbooks and training manuals for Ukrainian doctors who are interested in upgrading their skills. The auxiliary is a charitable organization comprising the spouses of Broome County physicians.

On Saturday, November 14, at 2 p.m., members of the auxiliary met at the offices of the Orthopedic Associates in Johnson City to formally present the supplies they had accumulated to the project coordinator of the Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund, Alex Kuzma. The shipment included an EKG machine, surgical supplies, hospital instruments and complete sets of journals on neonatology, pre-natal care, oncology, obstetrics and gynecology. The supplies were shipped to Ukraine on CCRF's 10th airlift, which left Las Vegas, Nevada, on December 6.

The Broome County drive was launched by Marilyn Wasyliw of Vestal, New York, whose husband, Dr. Orest Wasyliw, is an orthopedic surgeon with a successful practice in Johnson City. Dr. and Mrs. Wasyliw learned of the plight of Chornobyl's victims during a special forum at Sacred Heart Ukrainian Catholic Church in Johnson City last January. Since then, they have joined the Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund and sponsored two young boys in Kiev who are suffering from leukemia.

Mrs. Wasyliw persuaded her colleagues in the medical auxiliary to begin searching for surplus materials that could be shipped to Ukraine to help upgrade the region's health care system. Her proposal received enthusiastic support from the president of the medical auxiliary, Maria Kirk, her husband, Dr. Frank Kirk, and Dr. and Mrs. Russ Tarner of Vestal, New York.

According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Health, the rate of cancer among children in the newly independent republic has tripled since the 1986 accident released massive amounts of radiation into the environment. The World Health Organization (WHO) released a new study in September of this year showing that the incidence of thyroid cancer among children living near the Chornobyl plant has risen to 80 times higher than normal.

The auxiliary in the Tri-City Area (Binghamton/Endicott/Johnson City) plans to expand its drive for the Children of Chornobyl by working with other auxiliaries in New York State and by publicizing the plight of Chornobyl's children in national medical publications.

For more information, please contact Marilyn Wasyliw at (607) 729-1228, or the president of the auxiliary, Maria Kirk, at (607) 773-0010. For information about the Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund, please contact Alex Kuzma at (201) 376-5140.

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