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WHO / UKRAINE VOLUNTEER HEALTH WORKERS
STORY: WHO / UKRAINE: VOLUNTEER HEALTH WORKERS
TRT: 4:55
SOURCE: WHO
RESTRICTIONS: CREDIT WHO ON SCREEN
LANGUAGE: POLISH, UKRAINIAN, RUSSIAN, ENGLISH
DATELINE: 7 March 2022, Lviv, Ukraine
1.Wide shot, exterior of Lviv Central Station, Ukraine
2.Various shots, a volunteer-led space in station where displaced women and children can rest, warm up and have a meal before continuing their journey.
3.Close shot, station departure board
4.Med shot, Nataliya Ambarova, a volunteer doctor, speaks to another volunteers at the station
5.SOUNDBITE (Polish and Ukrainian) Nataliya Ambarova, volunteer doctor: (00:41) “There are many people coming to Lviv. Pregnant women, women with small children, even two-three-week-old babies. And every day there are more and more of them. (00:58)
They are all stressed, tried. They are hopeless. Their houses were bombed, like in Kharkiv. (01:14) People arrive and they have nothing. People arrive and they don't know what to do, where to go. They don' have money, not even to mention any belongings. They are just praying for support, and their situation is really terrible.” (1:33)
6.Various shots, displaced women and children at a volunteer-run space at Lviv Central Station.
7.SOUNDBITE (Polish and Ukrainian) Nataliya Ambarova, Volunteer Doctor: (02:00) “I come home and I cry. I let it all out, because it’s so difficult. In my entire life, I have not witnessed so much pain as here. People have been left with nothing.”
8.Med shot, Julia sits with her eight-month-old daughter Dasha
9.SOUNDBITE (Russian) Julia, displaced mother from Kharkiv: (02:21) “There was a heavy bombing where we live, my son stayed behind with my mum in Kharkiv. I left because at my house there was no electricity or heating anymore. I left with my child in my hands, without money, to Lviv. Our friends met us, everything is OK thanks to them. Thanks a lot. So next I want to go to Poland because I have friends there, to have a roof over our heads for some time.” (02:54)
10.Med shot, Julia with her Dasha
11.SOUNDBITE (Russian) Julia, displaced mother from Kharkiv: (03:02) “I cannot express my emotions about leaving my son with my mom. You leave not knowing where, those emotions, I was crying and praying to God so that they survive in Kharkiv. I hope that Kharkiv will be at least partially saved, so we have somewhere to go back to. I would like to go back to Kharkiv and to the ruins.” (03:27)
12.Various shots, crowds of people on getting on and off trains
13.Med shots, a woman feeds a child on a bench at the train station
14.Med shot, volunteers organize food and other supplies
15.Med shot, volunteer psychiatrist Orest Suvalo speaks to a woman at the station
16.SOUNDBITE (English) Orest Suvalo, Volunteer Psychiatrist: “People are arriving here directly from the bombed cities, to Lviv, 24 hours on the train, without possibility to visit toilets or to make a movement. So they are running away from this awful, horrible situations, and they are arriving here like in shock state. This is acute trauma, and we are trying here to stabilize, to provide shelters, to provide some safe space.”
17.Med shot, volunteers at the station
18.SOUNDBITE (English) Orest Suvalo, Volunteer Psychiatrist: “It's quite possible to predict that the consequence of these events will be much more widespread and we will need much more psychosocial support and mental health care for all population.”
On 7 March 2022, in Lviv, Ukraine, volunteer doctors and psychiatrists are helping displaced Ukrainians, mainly women and children, who are arriving at the city’s Central Station.
SOUNDBITE (English) Orest Suvalo, Volunteer Psychiatrist: “People are arriving here directly from the bombed cities, to Lviv, 24 hours on the train, without possibility to visit toilets or to make a movement. So they are running away from this awful, horrible situations, and they are arriving here like in shock state. This is acute trauma, and we are trying here to stabilize, to provide shelters, to provide some safe space.”
SOUNDBITE (Polish and Ukrainian) Nataliya Ambarova, volunteer doctor: “There are many people coming to Lviv. Pregnant women, women with small children, even two and three-week-old babies. And every day there are more and more of them. They are all stressed, tried. They are hopeless. Their houses were bombed, like in Kharkiv.People arrive and they have nothing. People arrive and they don't know what to do, where to go. They don' have money, not even to mention any belongings. They are just praying for support, and their situation is really terrible.”
The people arriving at the station have fled areas of active conflict and bombardment, and have had to leave other members of their family behind. For most, their final destination is Poland.
SOUNDBITE (Russian) Julia, displaced mother from Kharkiv: “There was a heavy bombing where we live, my son stayed behind with my mum in Kharkiv. I left because at my house there was no
electricity or heating anymore. I left with my child in my hands, without money, to Lviv. Our friends met us, everything is OK thanks to them. Thanks a lot. So next I want to go to Poland because I have friends there, to have a roof over our heads for some time.”
Even if they do make it to safer locations, many will be deeply impacted by the traumatic ordeals that they’ve been through and will require continuing support.
SOUNDBITE (English) Orest Suvalo, Volunteer Psychiatrist: “It's quite possible to predict that the consequence of these events will be much more widespread and we will need much more psychosocial support and mental health care for all population.”
The mental impact on the volunteers is also significant.
SOUNDBITE (Polish and Ukrainian) Nataliya Ambarova, Volunteer Doctor: “I come home and I cry. I let it all out, because it’s so difficult. In my entire life, I have not witnessed so much pain as here. People have been left with nothing.”
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