AHN donates mobile X-ray unit and other medical gear to Ukraine

Four trucks carrying critical medical supplies from Pittsburgh were just pulling into the western Ukrainian city of Lviv on Friday when Russian missiles struck an aircraft repair facility and rerouted the convoy. The city, just 43 miles from the Polish border, had been largely untouched by the war until last Friday’s airstrike.

Undeterred, the trucks reached their destination, the Ukrainian Ministry of Health in Kyiv, later that day.

The cargo contained 72 pallets’ worth of medication, supplies and equipment donated by Highmark Health and its subsidiary Allegheny Health Network, which operates 14 hospitals and medical facilities in the region. To get a sense of the scale, one 40-foot shipping container can hold about 20 pallets. The hospital system partnered with the nonprofit Brother’s Brother Foundation on the North Side to transport the supplies.

“We thought we would get five or 10 pallets of supplies. They gave us 72,” said Ozzy Samad, president of the Brother’s Brother Foundation, which also worked with the Pittsburgh Technology Council to coordinate the donations. The precious cargo included medicines and supplies to treat battlefield wounds and infections.

With so many civilians being affected by the Russian military’s attacks, hospitals across Ukraine are seeing an influx of injured patients. Dozens of hospitals have reportedly been hit, too, killing and wounding patients and health care workers. As a result, medical facilities are running out of potentially life-saving supplies.

Getting the supplies to Ukraine presented a logistical challenge, but as a charity that focuses on disaster relief, the Brother’s Brother Foundation had coordinated these kinds of missions before. Mr. Samad said this one required a lot of calls with the Ukrainian embassies in Turkey and Washington, D.C., Ukraine’s Ministry of Health, and a transportation company in Warsaw that offered to drive the supplies over the Poland-Ukraine border.

“For us it was critical that the supplies that we were sending wouldn’t just end up in a warehouse somewhere,” Mr. Samad said.

In Puerto Rico, humanitarian aid believed to have been delivered after Hurricane Maria in 2017 was found sitting in a warehouse three years later.

In this case, Ukraine’s Ministry of Health is distributing the supplies in areas ravaged by war. The 72 pallets from Pittsburgh were packed into trucks that drove to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. From there, the supplies were flown to Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris. In Paris, the cargo was loaded into trucks and driven to Warsaw, Poland. In There, lines of volunteers were waiting to transfer the supplies into trucks that would ultimately carry the cargo to its final destination.

The Brother’s Brother Foundation is sending a second shipment in the next week or so. That cargo will contain about 80 pallets from Highmark and AHN, including a mobile X-ray machine donated by Allegheny Valley Hospital worth around $170,000.

Dr. Alexander Kirichenko, a radiation oncologist at Allegheny Health Network and a native Ukrainian, learned that mobile X-ray machines are desperately needed at Ukrainian hospitals after getting a call last week from his colleague, Dr. Sergey Zemskov, a leading cancer surgeon in Kyiv.

“He said, ‘we are in real trouble,’” Dr. Kirichenko said. “He asked specifically for a portable X-ray machine that they can use to see shrapnel and any foreign bodies in people so they can remove it. This is what they need the most.”

Before the Russian invasion, the two physicians were planning to collaborate on bringing advanced radiation oncology services to Kyiv. But those plans are now on hold, as Dr. Zemskov is busy treating injured soldiers and civilians instead of cancer patients.

Russian forces have been indiscriminately shelling Ukrainian towns and cities, with residential buildings, medical centers and shopping malls getting hit by the fire. Shelling involves the bombardment of projectiles from the ground, while bombing generally refers to weapons that are dropped from aircraft.

“A lot of people are getting wounded. They’re suffering from penetrating injuries, burns, blunt trauma and concussions. That’s why they’re running out of medical supplies,” Dr. Kirichenko said.

He immediately called Dr. Bethany Casagranda, AHN’s chair of radiology, who helped locate a portable X-ray machine within just 24 hours.

The second shipment will contain a variety of medicine and surgical supplies from AHN’s West Penn Hospital, including scalpels, wound dressings, IV drips and vacuum devices that remove pressure over wounds to help them heal faster. None of the medication or supplies were ordered specifically for Ukraine; most of it came from the hospital’s surplus, a spokeswoman said. She added that the donation won’t have an impact on AHN’s ability to care for its own patients.

“The effects of war coupled with more than 60 attacks on health care has fractured the Ukrainian health system and limited access to critical supplies, medicines, and surgical equipment,” said Mesfin Teklu Tessema, senior director for the health unit at the International Rescue Committee, a New York City-based humanitarian aid organization. “These needs will only grow as the conflict becomes more protracted.”

The IRC is currently on the ground in Poland, coordinating with local Polish and Ukrainian organizations, and working to protect access to routine health care for Ukrainian refugees and those who remain in the country.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Health has created a priority list of drugs, medical equipment and supplies that are in need, which includes antibiotics, pain medications, anti-inflammatory drugs, muscle relaxants, wound dressings, compression bandages, breathing tubes for ventilators and syringes.

Mr. Tessema said medications for chronic conditions including insulin, personal protective equipment and access to safe water are also critical needs.

Along with the medical supplies that Brother’s Brother Foundation is sending, Giant Eagle is providing baby food, wipes, diapers, formula, disinfecting wipes, granola and grain bars, soap, hand sanitizer, feminine hygiene products, toothbrushes, and toothpaste. Volunteer teams from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Grane Rx, Sewickley Academy, the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and other community groups are also assembling hygiene kits for refugees. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette