Members of a global health humanitarian organization based in the Pacific Northwest are on the ground along the Ukraine border.
Medical Teams International is standing ready to help millions of refugees who have escaped the war in their homeland.
“Those who have been displaced, there’s tears, definitely. I’ve also seen this look of both shock and confusion and when talking - it’s usually we don’t know what to do,” said Roger Sandberg, VP of Field Operations with Medical Teams International.
He spoke to KIRO 7 over Zoom from his hotel room in Moldova, which borders Ukraine to the northeast and south.
Since arriving in Poland last Friday, Sandberg and a team of two others from the nonprofit have been on the move, witnessing firsthand the largest refugee flow in Europe since World War II.
“What we’re doing is meeting with different partners, gathering their information. Figuring out where are there needs, where are there gaps in needs being met,” added Sandberg.
Border camps are welcoming refugees, but many aren’t staying very long.
“What we’re seeing in this conflict is quite unique as well,” Martha Newsome, CEO of Medical Teams International, said. “It’s very organized. Refugees are being taken into homes. But we also know the very first refugees that got out have the most resources, connections.”
Medical Teams International worries that the constant flow of refugees will soon become challenging.
“And that’s why we are showing up, we are positioning ourselves with different governments to say if there ends up being refugee camps, we want to make sure we’re thinking through that ahead of time,” Sandberg explained.
“We expect as this conflict goes on that it’s going to be the poorer communities that are going to be getting out last or that are injured. So we do expect that at some point, the caring capacity of these neighbors is going to be overstretched,” Newsome added.
The group has already shipped medical supplies to Ukraine. It says it is ready to do whatever else is needed - whether it’s deploying doctors and other medical volunteers or sending in more medical supplies.
For more information, go to www.medicalteams.org.