When Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, I went to Ukraine for six weeks to volunteer as a nurse in shelters. Christine Schuster, the Emerson Hospital CEO, generously donated numerous medical supplies: wound care, tourniquets, insulin syringes, surgical gloves, suture kits, surgical instruments, IV tubing, etc.
I packed the supplies in duffel bags, boxes, and suitcases. They went with me on a Lufthansa flight to Krakow, Poland. Lufthansa waived the excess baggage fees as humanitarian relief. I carried the supplies on a train to the Polish/Ukrainian border and eventually across the border into Ukraine.
As the war has continued to rage and has become more devastating and brutal than ever, I have collected more medical supplies and other necessities and shipped them to my contact in Ukraine, Jan Anderson, Danish founder of Bright Jar Aid. Jan drives the supplies to the brigades and the military hospital we support on the front. The head doctor at the military hospital said, “We have nothing, not even gloves.”
Christine Schuster has made another generous donation of badly needed medical supplies. I just shipped 19 boxes to Jan Andersen. They also include private donations of heavy socks, hand warmers, thermal underwear, and energy bars.
I believe Emerson Hospital’s involvement in Ukraine, which has and will continue to save lives, is significant and needs to be acknowledged. Hopefully, all of Concord will join me in thanking Emerson Hospital for its generous humanitarian role in this dreadful war.
Jane Elliott
River Road, Carlisle
