Volunteer Hospital Assistance Headquarters – what we managed to do in 2 months of the war

Допомога під час війни

On the morning of February 24, 2022, we all woke up to explosions. The first thing each of us needed the most was to be saved.

Upon realizing whom we were dealing with, the second need arose – to help.

On the second day of the war, we began to get in touch with like-minded people, friends, and colleagues. The first thing they asked after “how are you?” was “what shall we do?”. The number of contacts in our chat was racing up daily, and the need to do everything in our power to help the military and civilians, hospitals, children and adults, grew bigger.

Being united online, in basements under shelling, we founded the Volunteer Hospital Assistance Headquarters.

It took us a while to move our families and children to safer areas. But even while running away, we stayed in touch. We learned about the needs of hospitals, defence and the military. They drew up lists of the most crucial necessities: from baby food, diapers, bedding and medicines, to hemostatic systems, tourniquets, insulin, power banks and body armour. We were looking for transport and gasoline. We were reaching out to sponsors, both in Ukraine and abroad, to get financial aid. We were receiving boxes, sorting them, packing parcels according to the requests and sending them to Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Kropyvnytskyi, Zaporizhia, Kyiv, as well as other towns and villages, where families with small children and the elderly were left without  heat, light, water, food and medicine. In fact, they were on the verge of life and death as a result of Russian occupation and continuous shelling.

Meanwhile, we began to receive requests for psychological assistance for children who have witnessed the massacre of their parents, received serious injuries and suffered amputations of limbs. Requests for psychological support have also begun to come from teachers who are in constant close contact with children and their parents. One way or another, they take on the lion’s share of children’s emotional experiences and fears. So we have launched a project aimed at strengthening Ukrainian crisis psychologists working with child victims of the war and creating supervision for teachers. Any teacher who feels the need to communicate with a psychologist is welcome to join the supervision.

Here is an indicative list of medication and other wartime essentials that we were able to find and hand over where needed. For security reasons, we do not specify details and recipients.

• Baby food
• Diapers
• Diaper pads
• Wet wipes
• Blankets
• Hygiene products
• CAT tourniquets gen 7
• Medical gloves
• Bandage and other dressing materials
• Catheters
• Antifungal drugs
• Medicine (antiviral and antipyretic drugs, painkillers and antihistamines, hemostatics, wound care products, syringes, antispasmodics and many more)
• Tactical gloves
• Generators
• Tons of pallets for heating
• Power banks
• Food
• Veterinary medicine

And most importantly! We do not stop for a moment. We keep searching, finding and sending. We are in touch 24/7. We listen to everyone. We hear everyone. We try to help everyone as much as we can.

That’s the only way to our victory!

Vse bude Ukraina!