Northeast Ohio is home to some of the best health care in the world. Now, some of those doctors will travel halfway around the world on a surgical mission to help victims of war.
"Urologists are funny, we do great surgeries, and it's a great environment in the OR," said Dr. Laura Bukavina when asked why she chose her specialty.
Bukavina and Dr. Kirtishri Mishra have been friends since residency at University Hospitals in 2015.
"The plan was to come back together and start doing surgeries together which we've started doing now," said Mishra.
The plan now, they say, includes helping people 5,000 miles away in Ukraine. They will be joined by fellow UH reconstructive urologist, Dr. Shubham Gupta, as well for the mission.
"This has been months of planning," said Bukavina.
The three UH doctors will leave Cleveland later this month and fly into Poland where they will then drive to the border of Ukraine and be picked up and taken to where they’re staying. They will then hit the ground running the next morning as they plan to treat 21 people in six days.
Eighteen months of war has greatly strained Ukraine’s healthcare and staff. The UH docs will be treating mostly young soldiers with abdominal and pelvic-area trauma. They will also be treating a couple of refugees.
"You know, minimize the number of tubes, minimize the management they have, minimize the complications and the hospitalizations so they can go home and play with their kids, go to the grocery store -- that's what the goal is," said Bukavina. "To give them a good, solid quality of life."
This will be Bukavina’s fourth trip to Ukraine since the Russian invasion. She helped with the initial refugee crisis, and then also with organizing resources for lower-extremity trauma patients.
As a mother, a doctor, and a Ukrainian-born American, she says she feels called to help.
“To be able to take the opportunities that I have received in the United States and use them and give back in Ukraine, it's a beautiful thing," said Bukavina.
The UH doctors will be in western Ukraine in areas considered safe zones that are well guarded. However, they say safety will always be on their minds, and on the minds of their loved ones too.
"Our safety and the safety of our patients is a top priority," said Bukavina.
Local doctors will also be scrubbing in during the surgeries to learn from the doctors. Bukavina says the procedures will be taped and available for review by others for continued medical knowledge-sharing and trauma skills growth in Ukraine.
"A lot of times when you see these things on the news and you’re just like, ‘Someone should really do something about that,’ and all of a sudden you pause and think how that person is me and I need to do the most I can for the people who don’t have as much," said Mishra. "So, I’m really looking forward to this.”
UH donated an ambulance that’ll be going to Ukraine. MedWish International in Cleveland donated 800 pounds of supplies. Cleveland Maidon donated travel expenses and logistics. Plus, a GoFundMe account has helped the docs purchase other supplies they’ll need for the surgeries.
