Task: heal Ukraine

Two medics of the Pirogov First Volunteer Mobile Hospital, vascular surgeon Vladyslav Horbovets and nurse Alina Narahan, have become heroes of a story by Oleksandr Yaroschuk published in Ukrainska Pravda. Zhyttya. They joined the PFVMH in 2015, worked together a few months, and helped hundreds of soldiers and civilians recover after fierce battles.

“It was destiny that I got just into this hospital, because it had no vascular surgeon,” Horbovets tells about the first of his five missions with the PFVMH. “It had many medical specialists but none of my specialization, even though it is extremely important in these circumstances.”

In wartime, there is a huge demand for vascular surgeons because limb, head and neck wounds account for 80% of all injuries, and just the vascular surgeons possess necessary skills for treating patients with such wounds.

Like Vladyslav being the only vascular surgeon in the PFVMH, Alina was the only surgical nurse there. She fulfilled many tasks: worked within evacuation teams, accompanied wounded warriors to helicopters, helped with their evacuation from battlefield, and worked in operating rooms.

In Bakhmut, Donetsk Oblast, Alina and Vladyslav for some time worked together. She describes him as a wise and talented doctor. He, in turn, says that he would not have been able to perform his duties as effectively without her assistance.

Read the whole story in Ukrainian on the Ukrainska Pravda. Zhyttya site.