IRPIN, Kyiv Oblast — An ambulance that Hartford HealthCare and Hunters Ambulance donated to Ukraine for relief has reached a local hospital, nearly two months after departing Connecticut.
It pulled up in front of the main entrance of a hospital in Irpin, Ukraine on Thursday around 11 a.m. EST, as health care workers thanked their American counterparts for helping Ukraine. The previously decommissioned ambulance was filled with more than $30,000 worth of donated equipment from over a dozen EMS agencies in Connecticut.
The ambulance was stuffed with dozens of pieces of equipment and thousands of pieces of PPE. Stretchers, masks, gloves, and splint bags to name a few.
"Live-saving pieces of equipment that they just don't have right now and they need much much more," said Kevin Ferrarotti, senior system Director of Emergency Medical Services at Hartford HealthCare. He hopes it will go into "immediate great use."
There were over a hundred ambulances in Irpin before the war, and now they were down to just under 10.
Director of Intelligent Organization Ihor Byalko has waited out the two months for the ambulance to arrive and was "so happy" to be there for its arrival.
"This ambulance is really what we need for now in Ukraine," Byalko said.
A small crowd of people came by to check out the ambulance.
"Nice ambulance, like from an American movie," Byalko said.
The conflict in Ukraine is personal for Hartford HealthCare neurosurgeon Joseph Aferzon since he has friends and family in Ukraine. He made the call to CEO and President Jeffrey Flaks to send help to Ukraine.
"To the doctors on the ground, thank you all..." Aferzon told the doctors in Ukraine. "We are all struck by how resilient the people of Ukraine are, the hard work the doctors on the ground have to do."
"It's also clear they have limited resources," Aferzon said. "The system is obviously not as robust as American resources, they do a great job and whatever we can do to help is a good thing."
With help from translators, Central City Hospital director Anton Dovhopol said that right now, the doctors and citizens in the Irpin are trying to resume normal life. Doctors heading back to work and parts of the hospital need to be rebuilt.
The mental health part of the hospital is closed off after that section was attacked, according to Byalko. The debris has been cleaned up, but the windows are still shattered.
"Now it's clean," Byalko said as he showed a separate hospital entrance. They need the building to be checked before patients can stay in there again, he explained.
During the conflict, the doctors have saved as many as 200 lives "without lights" at the hospital. At one point, there were 1,000 people admitted to the hospital at a time.
"A very hard time," Byalko recalled.
"Russian soldiers did not give a chance to doctors to help to Ukrainian people," Byalko said. "[The doctor's] job is save Ukraine...Russians [are told to shoot] them for dead."
The Ukrainians have been in this war for months, and it appears there is no end in sight.
"Ukrainian, we love freedom, we love love, we want to be part of Europe, but Russian, it sounds more like crazy imperial...We don't need that, we want to be part of a freedom world, democracy, Europe," Byalko said.
"Ukrainians will fight for the freedom and we will win this war," Byalko added.
Leah Myers is a digital content producer at FOX61 News. She can be reached at lmyers@fox61.com
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