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«The main thing is that the patient endures the journey and survives in general. On the road, it’s often necessary to relieve pain syndrome and reduce blood pressure. Most difficult is to ferry unconscious people.» We spoke with Lyudmila Bilyk, a senior paramedic of the «Busk» emergency medical service, who evacuates abroad the Ukrainians seriously injured as a result of the war.
The mission is to save someone’s life
A paramedic Lyudmila Bilyk, together with her colleagues in the brigade, carried out the first evacuation of the victims to Poland at the beginning of May. Since then, there have been several of them. On one such trip, several people can be transported, both military and civilians, who had been injured as a result of the full-scale war with Russia.
«Since the beginning of the current war, the «Busk» emergency medical aid brigade regularly transports patients to Poland, and then hands them over to foreign colleagues for further treatment. In May-June, the trips were quite intense – twice a week. Now, such departures have decreased. In total, there were no less than 12 trips from «Busk» alone. I’ve personally travelled three times – to Krakow and Rzeszów. We also had to drive only to the border and transfer patients to other doctors,» – Lyudmila Bilyk says.
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The paramedic assures that neither she nor other medics from her brigade have ever refused to go to such calls because they understood that it was about saving lives. Often, it had to be done beyond the working hours. They could be informed even in the evening that they needed to transport patients the next day, and added a specific description of where the latter should be picked up from, when exactly, who the patient and what his condition was, and where to take them. A brigade had to be formed on the spot. Medics and a driver who was registered in the «Free Way» system and had the right to cross the border, volunteered to help.
As a rule, they were supposed to be at the Lviv hospital in the morning, so the doctors’ working day began long before that.
«If I had to be in Lviv already at eight o’clock in the morning, then I had to wake up at three or four in the morning in order to have time to prepare, get to my station in Busk, get into an ambulance there and rush to Lviv. Sometimes it was difficult. Each of us sacrificed something – ourselves, our free time, sleep, family, but this is nothing compared to the traumas and feelings of people. We understand well that it is necessary to provide them with adequate assistance and deliver them to their destination on time. Who, if not us?» – says Lyudmila Bilyk.
We transported the heaviest
Emergency medical doctors had to transport the most serious patients with mine-explosive injuries and amputated limbs abroad. These were civilians – children and adults from Bucha, Mariupol, Ukrainian military personnel who suffered serious injuries during the hostilities.
The paramedic believes that there is always anxiety on such trips. The most important of them is how the patient will endure the journey and whether he will survive at all. On the way, patients often had to have their pain relieved and their blood pressure lowered. Most difficult is to ferry the unconscious. For example, one of the patients being transported was on a ventilator. He was taken to Rzeszów, where a medical helicopter was waiting for him for further transportation.
Of the three trips abroad, Lyudmila Bilyk remembered last one the most, when she transported two foreign soldiers, citizens of Great Britain. Due to the fact that Lyudmila barely knows English, she was very worried that she would not be able to communicate with them on the way, ask about their needs and assess their condition. Eventually, the woman began to speak French. As it turned out, one of the patients turned out to be a Frenchman who lived in Great Britain.
«It’s very impressive that people, having suffered heavy, often irreparable losses, are still strong in spirit. You look at them and think that they are much stronger than us, that they should be equaled. People give their health and lives, sacrifice themselves for our sake,» – Lyudmila Bilyk continued.
Life before and after the war
War, according to the paramedic, should teach each of us to value life, health, and the home in which we live.
She had the opportunity to go abroad with her two children at the beginning of the war, but did not want to, because she knew she was needed more here.
«We live near the helicopter section. We heard how on the night of February 24, helicopters often flew, saw the light of searchlights. Even then I understood that something bad was about to happen, but I didn’t want to believe it until the end. In the morning, our parents suggested that we leave or take our children abroad, but my husband and I did not even discuss this issue: we understood that we had no right to give up,» – says Lyudmila Bilyk and adds that her husband is already used to the fact that she, as they say, lives at work, and always supports her.
Read also: «They wanted to take me to Russia.» Mariupol nurse narrates how she evacuated to Lviv
A woman admits that the main thing she had to sacrifice is sleep.
Even before the war, Lyudmila Bilyk had a case in her professional practice when she had to transport an injured boy who was her son’s age. The child had an open traumatic brain injury, a serious case. Then, she decided to herself: if this child is safely brought to the Lviv children’s hospital, then she will definitely learn the 90th psalm. The boy was brought, and the paramedic did what she had planned.
«There is nothing better than realizing that you are not just a random person in someone’s life, but can help save it,» – she is convinced.
The paramedic advises all people not to get used to war, but on the contrary, to do everything so that this war does not come to our house one day:
«We need to be vigilant and thank God for what we have. Appreciate each other, take care of your health, gather your strength and move on, to victory. We will definitely win, because we are strong in spirit. We simply have no other options than to win,» – the interlocutor emphasizes.
Ukrainians who have suffered as a result of the war are being treated today in Poland, Germany, Spain and several other countries. The city of Lviv became a real hub engaged in transporting patients abroad. Employees of the Lviv Regional Center of Emergency Medical Aid and Disaster Medicine have already met more than 900 people who had arrived by evacuation trains accompanied by «Doctors Without Borders» organization. Some of them were sent to medical facilities in the city and region for treatment, and some were escorted to the border itself or to Poland, right up to the plane’s ramp, in order to hand them over to an international team of doctors who transport patients to specialized clinics in other countries.
According to the list of the Ministry of Health, Ukraine sent about 700 people for treatment abroad. The lion’s share of this work fell on the shoulders of Lviv medics – from line brigades «103» and ambulances of disaster medicine units.
Olha Shveda, translated by Vitalii Holich
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