Silver Cross Emergency Department, EMS Send Supplies to Help War-Torn Ukraine
Imagine you’re in a hospital and the power goes out. In every hospital in the United States and most developed countries, generators would immediately take over and you’d probably never notice. But that’s not what Alicia Bean experienced.
Bean, a registered nurse and nursing educator with Interstate Disaster Medical Collaborative (IDMC), recently traveled to Ukraine for the second time in a month. IDMC partners with MedGlobal, a nonprofit organization that works to bring health support programs to nations around the world.
She helped to train medical staff on how to treat patients during a mass casualty event. During this stay, however, due to bombings at power grids, she knew the hospital would be without power for some stretches of time.
In those cases, having medical supplies that don’t rely on electricity was essential. And Bean didn’t go emptyhanded. Silver Cross Hospital and Silver Cross EMS donated several supplies that she was able to bring over to assist with training staff and caring for patients.
Prior to her departure, she was able to pick up 80 tourniquets and 40 Israeli bandages, which have a blood clotting agent to help control bleeding. Brian Baudek, Assistant Manager of EMS & Emergency Preparedness, reached out to the Silver Cross EMS network of providers to secure supplies. Donations came in from all over Will County, including the fire departments from Joliet, Lemont, Homer Glen and Lockport.
Bean was overwhelmed by the amount of supplies they were able to bring over.
“It was unbelievable,” Bean said. “We were able to pick up some supplies here and there, but that was incredible. The number one biggest risk for patients in trauma is blood loss. The supplies helped save hundreds of lives.”
In addition to the bandages, Silver Cross and Silver Cross EMS donated:
BLS cards, online training resources
Training mannequins in order to provide proper CPR training
40 pocket resuscitation masks to provide mouth-to-mask resuscitation (in collaboration with the Joliet Fire Department)
Trauma tourniquets to help with bleeding control
Bandage materials for wound care
QuickClot (a bleeding control agent) used for massive bleeding post traumatic injury
Israeli bandages (a bleeding control agent) to help with bleeding control and wound coverage
Jill Pateros, director of the Silver Cross Emergency Department , has known Bean for many years and was eager to help when asked.
“Alicia is an incredible nurse and human being,” Pateros said. “When she asked if we could help, we jumped at the opportunity to do so even in a small way.”
Bean said she was able to teach CPR training to nonmedical personnel because of the supplies that Silver Cross EMS sent over the first time she was in Ukraine.
“That wouldn’t have happened without those supplies,” she said.
She added the medical professionals over in Ukraine were eager to provide high quality care, but simply needed some more supplies to help facilitate it.
“They were all highly educated,” she said. “They just have never been through major trauma care. That’s where we came in to help teach them.”
For more information about Silver Cross Hospital or Silver Cross EMS, visit www.silvercross.org
