In the above photo Vlad Paizy and I meet in Kramatorsk, Ukraine (Vlad had faithfully stood in the rain waiting for the train to arrive and greet us!)
Greetings from Kramatorsk, Ukraine! I arrived early this morning after a night train ride from Kyiv. I arrived to find it raining and my umbrella was securely packed and out of reach. Vlad had come to meet us and he said that there were tears of joy falling from heaven that were welcoming my arrival. We left to meet with Valery Ivanovich. Valery is a major businessman in Kramatorsk who has been a great help in our efforts. Some who have been reading these trip reports for many years will remember that Valery is the man whose two sons were kidnapped and murdered by the Russian mafia. I arrived to find that Valery is currently undergoing treatments for cancer. He had surgery in Munich and is having follow up treatments in Kramatorsk and will return to Munich later. Valery has also been a great help in regard to the summer camp that Vlad and Jeff Abrams conducts each summer.
After leaving the train station we immediately went to the oncology hospital where Valery is being treated. He was scheduled for a treatment today and wanted to see me before the treatment. The hospital has received a number of items from our shipments. The greatest desired items from our shipments are the hospital beds. Since Russia’s invasion and occupation of portions of eastern Ukraine the hospitals in Donetsk moved to the free areas. This has increased the patient population. In the oncology hospital, there is a shortage of everything. The city wants to enlarge the hospital but it was built by the Soviet Union on land where captured German soldiers of WW2 are buried and Germany is trying to recover the remains. To help provide more patients beds the Chief Doctor bought some cots where patients are sleeping.
At another hospital I talked with an ER doctor who said that our miscellaneous medical supplies are not available in Ukraine because they are not on the registered list but are drastically needed. He says that many items we send are available only in the big hospitals of Kyiv and in Kramatorsk. He says Kramatorsk has available what no other hospital in Ukraine has available thanks to our shipments. He also told me that many of the disposable items are a great benefit to patients. These items can be bought in local pharmacies and brought to the hospital, but the cost is about 3 times as high as in Europe. And many of these families cannot afford to buy them. Thanks to our shipments these are given free to patients!
As I looked through the storage room where boxes are sorted and sent to different places in the hospital, I saw labels of #399 which our diligent sorters place on miscellaneous medical boxes. One of the boxes had the inventory list that is made prior to loading that lists the total weight and number of boxes on a pallet.
Sorted miscellaneous medical supplies that began in Judsonia, AR are delivered to Kramatorsk, UA for those in the hospital! In room after room I saw various beds that we have shipped. As I walked into each room, the patients were told that I was one of the ones responsible for helping churches of Christ get the hospital beds to Kramatorsk. Without exception each patient thanked me and said the beds were a great blessing. As we were walking, the one in charge of receiving these containers asked “How do you get those heavy beds to stand perfectly? They arrived and are standing so well and compactly. They were packed very well.” He went on to say that when he gets word that a container is coming his workers ask, “are there ANY hospital beds?” When they learn there are hospital beds, they start moaning and crying. I told him I could understand his situation as those working with the beds on my end do the same… 🙂
The Consignee told me that when the last container arrived it had snowed about 6 inches. The drive to the unloading location is on an incline and the truck’s wheels kept spinning. So those who had come to unload 30 beds plus, exam tables and other items first had to shovel the drive and spread sand THEN they had to unload the container of 30+ hospital beds weighing 550 pounds each. And they have no loading dock!
But all the grunting and sore muscles are worthwhile when you realize the great blessing those beds are to the suffering!
Continue praying for our efforts during this trip.
John L. Kachelman, Jr.
Kramatorsk, Ukraine
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