NHS staff around the North East - and beyond - have come together as part of a mammoth effort to send vital medical supplies to the Ukraine-Poland border to help those injured as a result of Russia's invasion.
Responding to the call for help from some of our region's medics, the North East's NHS authorities are supporting the volunteers with logistical help as well as donating vital equipment including disinfectant, gauze, bandages, gloves, splints, neck braces, resuscitation masks, thermal foil blankets, single-use scalpels, saline and single-use surgical kits.
Karolis Rozanas, 37, is a F2 doctor at the QE in Gateshead. The Lithuanian - who lives in Whitley Bay - explained how a chance conversation with Polish NHS colleague Katarzyna Kostrzewa led to the formation of the Ukraine Medical Aid North East organisation.
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"Katarzyna and I had a conversation on Friday. She was approached by a group of Polish doctors setting up a field hospital to see if she would be able to ask her Trust for help. She did that and asked me if I would do the same. So I did, and on Saturday I posted on Facebook asking for others to help."
Karolis said that things had snowballed from there - and there are now warehouses full of medical equipment in the North East ready to be sent out to the Ukraine to help those in need.
Karolis said that he had been compelled to act as he watched Russian forces begin their invasion. He said: "When Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine I felt shocked about it - it was hard to believe that in this day and age this could happen.
"But I have never felt like this is an invasion of a foreign country. Putin has invaded Ukraine but, to me, he has also invaded he rest of Europe.
"Myself, as someone from Lithuania, I feel the chances are this is not going to stop with Ukraine. To do something now for the brave people in Ukraine is the least we can do."
He added the key message for medical professionals was that the group remained in "desperate need" - adding: "What is going on in Ukraine is a brutal attack on everything we hold dear in the modern western world with heart-breaking and devastating repercussions to innocent civilians.
"Field doctors from Ukraine, doing their best to care for people and save people’s lives, are contacting us to ask for help. They are desperate for supplies. The worst thing we can do is be apathetic, stand by and do nothing. When we set up the Facebook page a few days ago, I didn’t expect the reaction we have had.
"We are still in desperate need of medical supplies, surgical supplies and of medication. Anyone looking to help, please join the Facebook group. Healthcare providers or medical companies we've not spoken to - please get in touch."
Karolis' wife Rugile Rozane - a psychiatry trainee at North Tyneside Hospital - added: "We were having dinner and thought this was such a good idea - what if we could scale it up?
"The enthusiasm has been phenomenal and the Facebook group exploded with lots of people getting in touch saying they wanted to contact their trusts and their employers."
Vladyslav Vovk, 26, is an Ukrainian doctor working at the North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Trust. He left Ukraine aged just six - and has a very personal motivation.
"I have three cousins in Ukraine, he said. "One is fighting on the front lines and I haven't heard from him - I don't know if he is alive. Another cousin is working in a hospital in Kyiv. She's looking after children with cancer. They're looking after them in corridors and in bunkers. The last I knew she was alive.
"And the other has been fleeing Kyiv with their six-month-old daughter.
"My 90-year-old grandmother is still in western Ukraine. She's really vulnerable and I worry so much for her. She's not able to do so much for herself any more."
Vladyslav said the support for his country and the medical relief effort had been "overwhelming". "I can't thank people enough," he added. "All the NHS trusts and the people who have donated supplies, it's amazing."
Nicola Elliott is a nurse practitioner working at the Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust. Her grandfather was Ukrainian - and she said his suffering in a concentration camp during the 1940s had inspired her.
"When he was released he came straight to the UK. But during that time he lost contact with all his family," she said. "Through the Red Cross we have found some of his relatives in Poland, but that makes this hit home.
"The response has been really amazing - though we've been making it up as we go along. The reaction has been overwhelming. For me it's so important to support people in Ukraine - I know through what my grandfather went through how awful things can be.".
Forest Hall's Elliott Philips, 25, is a GP trainee and he explained that though he was "the odd one out" - the only organiser in the group without a direct connection to Eastern Europe - he had been desperate to help.
"For me though it's just shared humanity. I saw the post from Karolis on Saturday night when I was at work. I just couldn't skip past it. We have all seen the horrific images of what's happening. I wanted to help and was thinking what could I do?
"I thought about how the Ukrainian people have been through Covid and now this. Particularly in our medical world, we know what ill-health looks like and what it can mean for people - and this is what we are trying to do to help."
Anthony Robson, managing director of the QE Facilities company run by the Gateshead Health NHS Trust is helping to manage storage and logistics. He said: "We got involved earlier this week - Karolis is one of our doctors. He came to us and we were more than happy to be able to respond. It's the NHS family at its best, and this is a communal effort from the NHS across the North East.
"I'm getting messages every with more supplies. It's a phenomenal effort."
Samantha Allen, chief exec for the North East and North Cumbria NHS Integrated Care System said: "Our hearts are filled with sadness and our thoughts are with everyone affected by the current situation in Ukraine, especially those in our workforce and in our local communities directly impacted.
"We are thinking too of the many healthcare teams in and around Ukraine who will be trying so hard to care for their people in the most awful of circumstances. The personal stories of the clinicians who have helped to coordinate this absolutely phenomenal effort are heart-wrenching. It is inspiring to see their drive and determination and I am proud they are my colleagues."
Medical Aid Ukraine North East is working closely with the British Ukrainian Aid Charity, the Ukrainian Medical Association and other national organisations and charities, including UNICEF and the British Red Cross - to get involved visit their Facebook group or contact them via email at medicalaidukraine.northeast@gmail.com
