With the refugees in Ukraine: at least I got to do some good | Israel today

22:00 at night.

A woman enters the clinic with an 8-year-old boy, he has scratches on his face, one of which is bleeding.

She asks us to take care of them.

The boy runs around the whole clinic.

She apologizes, she had to hold him tight so he would not rave and disturb all the people on the way and in the dormitories.

She held him so tight that he was injured.

A few minutes later a 15-year-old woman and her son enter.

He is autistic and does not speak.

The woman, Elena, injured her finger while riding the train and now the wound is contaminated.

She and her son Daniel fled from Kharkiv along with his two 13-year-old twin brothers.

Escape, as Elena said, at the last minute.

Elena has no idea where they want to go, they have no acquaintances or friends in Europe.

Her immediate goal is to calm and stabilize Daniel, who is under great pressure and the situation cannot be explained to him.

She faces a lot.

Even dressing Daniel and changing his diaper are a big deal these days.

In order to clean Daniel both need to be together in a private space, but can not stay together in the women's or men's restrooms.

We allocated a place for Elena and her son at our help center and helped Elena clean up Daniel and change his clothes, after he had to spend long hours in wet clothes because they could not find a suitable place to change.

Cases keep coming, I can keep telling and telling.

I am in a clinic located in the large refugee center near the Medika border crossing in Przemyśl - an abandoned shopping center that has been converted in light of the difficult events.

They are basically placed in it like a transit house, until they know where they are headed.

At the clinic, we, nursing and medical teams from Hadassah Medical Center, in collaboration with the medical staff of the "Natan" organization and the Red Cross.

While we are primarily there to provide medical assistance, it seems that most of all, refugees need listening and inclusion - there are cases where this is all the treatment required.

Most families come in a lackluster composition - the men are not, because the law obliges them to stay in their country and fight.

Money usually does not exist, or is no longer worth much.

There are no showers, the bathroom has an endless queue, day and night do not exist because there is lighting all the time, and the noise and smells…

I set out on a journey thanks to the vision and backing spirit of Hadassah Medical Center and Hadassah International.

We met and collaborated with many, and we should especially thank the Natan organization and Shomer Hatzair.

Although the future looks bleak, we all hope that the situation will change for the better and there will no longer be a need for refugee centers.

At least I got to do some good.

The author is an expert in internal medicine and immunology, Hadassah Medical Center

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