“Surgery” is not something one expects to read on a door in Ukrainian House, an exhibition center on Kyiv’s European Square occupied by anti-government EuroMaidan protesters since Jan. 26.
The sign, made from red adhesive tape, marks the entrance to the makeshift hospital, one of many attending to EuroMaidan demonstrators.
Every day, a team of volunteer doctors works here to help sick and injured protesters.
The room of the medical unit is small, but well-equipped with a couch, a surgical table and a cupboard full of drugs, stretchers and gas masks. On the afternoon of Feb. 1, three doctors are on duty. Even though it is just a field hospital, each of them wears a fresh medical gown.
Overall, around 600 volunteer medics work in five medical units in the EuroMaidan area. Most of the volunteers are locals coming to EuroMaidan after their shifts in city hospitals. Many came from Lviv Oblast.
Borys Frankewycz, a tall doctor with an easy smile, examines a patient’s leg.
Frankewycz came to Ukraine for a week from Regensburg, Germany, right after he found out about dozens of casualties in clashes on Hrushevskoho Street on Jan. 22, including the shooting deaths of three demonstrators.
Frankewycz, 32, is an assistant physician at University Clinic of Regensburg. He transferred to Ukrainian House from another medical aid room in the Trade Unions Building.
His patient has a frostbitten toe, a common injury among protesters staying outside in sub-zero temperatures. Others came in with contusions, lacerations, frostbite, concussions and various pains and injuries.
Some patients still carry battle wounds from Hrushevskoho Street clashes from Jan. 19 to Jan. 22, including grenade fragments lodged n the body.
“Usually we have about 20 patients a day, but today we had 35”, says Ihor of Lviv Oblast, who doesn’t want his last name published because he might face problems at work for helping EuroMaidan demonstrators.
The last member of the team is Ulyana Bilous, 24, a thin young woman with big eyes. She has been working at EuroMaidan medical units since Dec. 9 and shifted from the mobile medical team, which helped wounded protesters during street clashes. “She is a real veteran,” Ihor jokes.
Bilous is shy about her adventures. She is an intern pediatric surgeon at a hospital in Rivne. The doctors usually have 12-hour shifts in EuroMaidan clinics, but Bilous works about 20 hours a day. When asked if she had slept last night she answered proudly: “I took a nap.”
Sometimes there’s time for chatter. Ihor remembers the story of one of the hired thugs rallying against EuroMaidan who needed treatment. “He was screaming pro-presidential and anti-EuroMaidan slogans even while getting help here,” remembers Bilous.
An old man on crutches comes in. He complains about pains in his leg that haunt him after an operation. The doctors examine him and smile with compassion. Frankewycz said quietly that the man probably wanted to get medicine he couldn’t afford himself. Such cases are also common on EuroMaidan.
Frankewycz says he’s most impressed by doctors who volunteer at their own expense and people who bring needed medicine and medical equipment.
“This revolution looks like a festival. People all over the world come to see how Ukrainians fight for their rights,” Frankewycz says.
Suddenly, a patient that Bilous was examining screamed and ran out of the room. Bilous explained that the man complained about knee pain and, when asked to take off his pants, suddenly remember he wasn’t wearing any underwear and ran away.
Kyiv Post photojournalist Anastasia Vlasova can be reached at [email protected] and @sia_vlasova on Twitter.
