A team of doctors from Maimonides Medical Center traveled to Ukraine to help alleviate some of the pressures on their medical systems.  

For Dr. Joshua Schiller, who took a team of six doctors with him to Uzhhorod, Ukraine, helping the hospitals who are receiving refugees in the eastern part of the country was a tall task.  

“The populations in the western part of the country have doubled roughly since the beginning of the war,” said Schiller. “There’s a real need for ramped-up capacity to handle the increase in patient volumes.” 

The team spent one week training hundreds of medical students and family medicine residents on how to handle a number of emergency situations that they’re now facing.  

“Most of the emergencies are the kinds of things that you’d see in a civilian population… stroke, heart attacks, acute exacerbations of diabetes or asthma,” said Schiller.  

While most emergencies are not directly tied to the war, the strain of the conflict is taking a toll on those near and far from the battlefield.  

Schiller’s NGO, International Medical Response, and Maimonides’ social emergency medicine division plan to send a second group of doctors back to Ukraine in the spring.