This is the story of the Argentine doctors who traveled in a humanitarian flightcommanded by the filmmaker and social activist Enrique Pineyroto collaborate in a refugee center of the war in ukraine. The delegation, which left on May 30, settled in a makeshift clinic in Poland, ten kilometers from the border with Ukraine, and there they treated more than 200 people a day, mostly women and children, since they still men between the ages of 18 and 60 are not allowed to leave the country.
“The pandemic is over, but we are in a war”, was the call that woke up the group of Argentine doctors when Pablo Rozic, head of the Psychiatry Department of the Center for Medical Education and Clinical Research (Cemic), contacted the Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem, which installed a primary care clinic in the Polish city of Pzremysl.
“A call came to see who was interested in participating and as soon as they finished talking I raised my hand. There are things that are not even thought of,” Dana Tatín, a doctor graduated from the National University of Rosario, told NEWS, adding: “The costs were too high for us, with the proceeds we did not arrive, but we spoke with Enrique Piñeyro and he offered to take us”.
“From Warsaw we arrived at the city of Rzeszów, where our accommodation was and from where we left to have a first contact with the place”, says Rozic. The Polish city, 90 kilometers from the refugee center, is also the seat of the headquarters of the World Health Organization (WHO).
The delegation, which also included Hugo Magonza, director general of the Cemic, provided services at the clinic set up by the Israeli hospital last March. “The work team is organized in rotating 12-hour shifts, the team was made up of five doctors from the Hadassah hospital, five from Cemic, three from the University of Chile and three from the Lublin University Hospital. It was a work experience and cooperation that flowed as if we had always worked together”, says Fanny Ribak, Cemic’s development coordinator.
The shelter
An hour and a half trip to “el Tesco”, as they identify the hypermarket closed by the pandemic that became a refugee center, the Argentine doctors traveled every day. “When arrive the smell was shocking, a very particular smell that was impregnated. smell of poor hygieneof the little air circulation”, comments the pediatrician about the clinic that was set up in an old motorcycle shop, where they placed stretchers and shower curtains to separate the patients.
“There is a kind of world within the world, people sleeping on bunks in long numbered rows. What were once businesses were transformed into lounges for recreation of children and adolescents and a large kitchen with rows of refugees waiting to be served,” says Rozic. “Arriving was hard, there were more people than I imagined,” adds family doctor Jimena Juárez.
The refugee center functions as a gateway to a new beginning. There, refugees are given a 10GB chip so they can use it to communicate with their loved ones. “Where the locals were now there are help centers and information on each country so that they can choose where to go to live”, describes Tatín. The main options are Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Hamburg or Vienna.
“Although we had some idea of what they had told us, one cannot measure. It is something unthinkable that they displace you from your house, that you leave with what you are wearing. Put your whole life in a suitcase”, expresses Tatin. “Entering there is a heartbreaking image, hundreds of emotionally broken people, who carry in their suitcases the little they rescued from their lives in Ukraine, they are tired, perplexed and their ties broken. You are never prepared for so much horror,” adds Ribak.
Containment
The refugee center remains open at all times. “The clinic has excellent medical supplies, EKG, ultrasound, and a well-stocked pharmacy for 24-hour availability,” says Rozic. “We served 200 people a day,” says Tatín, adding: “Most of the adults came for a sore throat or to control blood pressure, but they ended up talking about their lives.” Since March, there are already more than 12,000 people who have been assisted at the site.
“We hear many tragic stories of bombings, displacements. Also people who went to bury a deceased relative near the border and who returned, or people who left relatives and lost all contact,” says Cemar’s psychiatrist. Communication was the most complicated, they speak Ukrainian and Russian and we speak English and Spanish”, adds the pediatrician who found help in the nurses, mostly Israelis, who spoke Russian and acted as translators. In addition, they constantly used their phones and there were volunteers for communication.
“Beyond the language, people ended up telling their experiences with eyes full of tears,” explains Mercedes Heirnermann. “In addition to the medical part, one ends up contributing more with a hug. A game with the boys made us forget what was happening for those few seconds”.
