District hospital in Yavoriv aids local population through CCRF donations

by Olena Welhasch

SHORT HILLS, N.J. - The Yavoriv Central District Hospital in western Ukraine earlier this year received $751,920 of humanitarian aid from the New Jersey-based Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund.

The CCRF's 28th airlift brought a three-ton shipment of antibiotics, multivitamins, aspirin, sutures, syringes, cough medication, hospital supplies and one complete neonatal intensive care unit for the 122,000 people in the Yavoriv region.

Located only miles away from the Polish border, the small city of Yavoriv has the ambiance of a village. The Yavoriv Central District Hospital is situated in buildings that once served as a Basilian convent; it seems to be an appropriate setting for the exceptionally spirited doctors of Yavoriv.

On a fact-finding mission in August, CCRF In-Country Director Olena Maslyukivska and this writer witnessed the inspiring charity displayed by Yavoriv healthcare workers.

According to Dr. Milla Markiv, the head doctor at the local hospital, about half of the delivered humanitarian aid has already been distributed. Vitamins and medications are distributed daily free of cost to patients in the hospital, and the sutures are being utilized in surgery.

Dr. Markiv explained that the prenatal vitamins and folic acid tablets were given to the Yavoriv Polyclinic. It is here that pregnant women come for their check-ups. "Considering that 40 percent of Ukrainian women suffer from anemia, the donation of folic acid is especially appreciated," she said.

CCRF representatives witnessed dozens of pregnant women each receive a month's supply of these essential supplements, and were delighted to learn of the extent to which the organizaton's aid shipments touched the community in Yavoriv.

Thanks to the initiative of healthcare workers in both the hospital and the clinic, customized packages of needed medications were delivered to thousands of households in Yavoriv. Nurses and volunteers have spent the past four months distributing the aid to people in need.

Olena Welhasch is director of procurement at the Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund, based in Short Hills, N.J.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, October 28, 2001, No. 43, Vol. LXIX

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