As a kid, Connor Berlin heard stories about his great, grandmother Lilly, a Jewish woman living in Kiev. One night her husband and sons were killed by an anti-Semitic mob. She fled to America, but her descendant – a young doctor at the University of Virginia – has traveled back to Ukraine. He liked the people he met there, experienced no discrimination, and was dismayed when the Russians attacked.
"You know in my mind it’s a very clear good versus evil conflict," he says. "I would characterize it as a genocidal war of aggression."
So Berlin decided to volunteer through a non-profit providing aid to Ukraine.
"I don’t have children. I don’t have major clinical responsibilities this year. I’m in my research year. I just said to myself, ‘If there’s something I can do, if there’s a skill I have that I can use to help other people, I’m going to do it," he resolved.
But as a resident at UVA’s medical center he was not allowed to travel to war zones.
"Residents in the United States are government employees. We’re paid out of Medicare, and so there’s a restriction on us traveling to a country at war," he explains.
Medicare does not want the liability – but it’s not responsible for its workers when they go on vacation, so Berlin took his three weeks to care for Ukrainian soldiers.
He worked at a 16-hundred bed hospital where the most serious injuries are treated.
"Where I was in Dnipro, 70 miles from the front lines, If you look at a map you’re like – 'Oh, that’s very close!'"
The city was not attacked during his time there, and doctors went about their business. Berlin fit right in with the night shift.
"Most of the guys operating at night are these young Ukrainian neurosurgeons, and they’re operating by themselves, and they might be doing 5-6 brain surgeries every night," Berline recalls. "They might be doing a couple of spine surgeries at night."
The American volunteer did a total of 20 operations, learning from his local counterparts who, he says, were very well trained. They could, however, use more help, and Berlin hopes others will follow his lead, contributing their skills, time and money to the cause. He recommends would-be volunteers or donors contact Razom for Ukraine, Heal-Corp and Matter 360.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
