Cork group asked to help with hospital for injured Ukrainians after delivering medical aid

When in Minsk Mazoweiecki, former Senator John Gilroy met Ukrainian refugees who shared harrowing accounts of their experiences of the war

Jim Quinn, Team Gilroy, John O'Connell, Project ESPWA and Ger O'Dea, National Ambulance Service Community Engagement Manager, with the consignment recently of medical equipment bound for hospitals in the Ukraine. Picture: Jim Coughlan.

A Cork-based voluntary group has been asked by the authorities in Ukraine to help set up a rehabilitation hospital near the capital Kyiv to treat those injured during the Russian invasion.

As a result, Crutches4Ukraine is to extend its campaign to collect mobility aids across all of Cork and will seek local partners to assist in the logistics of this major initiative.

(Left to right) Gary Walsh, CS&R Manager, former Senator John Gilroy, Victor Danylyuk, Ukrarian Community (Shtab Pivdnya) and Derek O'Kelly-Lynch, Jenkinson Logistics, with a consignment of medical equipment bound for hospitals in the Ukraine, at CS&R Container Storage & Repair, Tivoli Dock, Cork, recently. Mr Gilroy helped oversee the unloading of 22 tonnes of medical equipment in Poland. Picture: Jim Coughlan

The campaign is to be escalated following a meeting in Poland between Crutches4Ukraine founder, former Senator John Gilroy, and the Mayor of the Ukrainian area of Borodyanka.

They met after Mr Gilroy helped oversee the unloading of 22 tonnes of medical equipment collected by his volunteers in Cork which it’s hoped will assist over 1,000 injured Ukrainians. The aid includes crutches, wheelchairs, walking frames, support boots, walking sticks and other medical supplies.

They were unloaded in the Polish town of Minsk Mazowiecki, which is 35kms east of Warsaw and then shipped onto hospitals in the Ukraine.

“Following the delivery, the Kyiv authorities asked us if we could assist in setting up a rehabilitation hospital near Kyiv to treat people injured in the war. 

It is proposed to work closely with the Mayor’s office in Minsk Mazowiecki and the Kyiv authorities and that a second delivery of mobility and rehabilitation aids will be sent out in the coming months. 

"We will be extending our campaign across Cork and looking for local partners,” Mr Gilroy sad.

Mr Gilroy said he held a range of meetings with the Mayor of the Polish town of Minsk Mazowiecki and representatives of the displaced Ukrainian community in eastern Poland.

The Polish town, 40,000 population, has a close relationship with the Ukrainian town of Borodyanka – recently visited by Taoiseach Micheál Martn – which was destroyed by the invading Russian forces. Over 2,000 residents from the stricken town fled to Minsk Mazowiecki where they received a warm welcome from the local community.

John O'Connell who helped to collect some of the medical equipment bound for hospitals in the Ukraine. Picture: Jim Coughlan

“When our truck arrived, the Mayor of Minsk Mazowiecki, Marcin Jacubowski, placed his staff at our disposal. While it had taken us over 10 hours to load the truck, the city council workers and a large group of Ukrainian women had the truck unloaded in under two hours,” Mr Gilroy said.

When in Minsk Mazoweiecki, Mr Gilroy met Ukrainian refugees who shared harrowing accounts of their experiences of the war. Thousands of women and children have fled their homes, while the men have stayed behind.

“Viera, a 75-year-old woman left her home in the eastern Ukrainian town of Kharkiv in February. She described how she’d left with only an hour’s notice, her only belongings where what she could carry. 

"Being homesick, she returned to Kharkiv in March but the unrelenting fighting there meant that she could not stay. She returned to Minsk Mazowiecki in April and fears that she will never see her home again,” Mr Gilroy said.