Thread by @ukraine_world

How the Pirogov First Volunteer Mobile Hospital operates during the full-scale war. #UkraineWorldTestimony

The Pirogov First Volunteer Mobile Hospital (PFVMH) is a group of civilian volunteer medics and support staff who provide medical assistance at the front in Ukraine.

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PFVMH President and co-founder Gennadiy Druzenko told UkraineWorld that the hospital's volunteers are people with a high drive for service and self-realization. They are people who expect the most of themselves and the world. 2/12

Unlike many other units, PFVMH volunteers are professional medics. 95% of the Hospital's volunteers work for free. The unit's leadership provides financial assistance only to those who have been unable to keep their main jobs because of their time at the front. 3/12

"Instead of a rigid hierarchy, we advocate coordination in our work, solidarity instead of subordination, and service instead of earning money. In a certain sense, we are the exact opposite of the Wagner Group," Druzenko suggests. 4/12

During the full-scale war, the PFVMH has specialized in the pre-hospital stage of medical care. The Hospital's volunteers, located 3-5 kilometers from the battlefield, work side by side with military medics to stabilize the wounded so they can be brought to hospitals alive. 5/12

"We help everyone. A wounded soldier is no different from a wounded civilian. When you take off their uniforms, soldiers and civilians look exactly the same," Druzenko explains. 6/12

A year ago, when the Hospital's volunteers were working in Bakhmut, most of the patients were civilians who had been hit by 🇷🇺 fire. There were almost no local doctors left in the town, so people came to volunteers. Today, 99 % of PFVMH patients are wounded and ill soldiers. 7/12

Between May 2022 and April 2023, PFVMH provided assistance to 17,604 people, Druzenko says. This does not include those people whose names and diagnoses were not possible to record. 8/12

On average, PFVMH medics save about 1500 people every month. However, in recent months, the number of wounded has gone through the roof, ranging from 2,500 to 3,000 people a month. 9/12

The Hospital has about 80 personnel, half of whom are medics, and the rest of whom are support staff like drivers, security guards, cooks, a press officer and so on. "Unfortunately, the war isn't a planned surgery, and the flow of wounded does not stop here," says Druzenko. 10/12

"To prevent our medics from simply falling dead of exhaustion, we have set up a schedule where, after working for one day, our doctors rest the next day. Overall, it is a complex system that requires readiness to evacuate and treat the wounded round the clock." 11/12

Read the full story on our website ➡️ bit.ly/439Q23n
There you will also find the details to support the PFVMH financially.

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