A Tale of Two Sisters
The Story of Two Sisters: I met the sisters the day I arrived in Poland. They are in a local nursing home. The older sister, Ina, is disabled. She suffers from cerebral palsy and needs nursing care. Her younger sister, Julia, is mentally handicapped and cares for her older sister with dedication and love. The two sisters managed to escape from the Donetsk region only in early April. Due to Ina's disability, it was no possible to evacuate them earlier. Part of the way, the volunteers had to carry Ina themselves, until they managed to find a vehicle large enough to lay her down. The road to Poland was not easy - it took 8 different vehicles and part of the way they dragged Ina lying on a blanket. These two strong and beautiful women are grateful for the care and love they have received along the way. Today they are waiting for an ambulance to take them to Denmark. There they have a rehabilitative nursing home waiting for them. Julia had to leave behind her son, Sasha, 23, a fighter in the Ukrainian army. Contact with him is not always possible and both sisters are extremely concerned for his safety.”
(Written by Natasha Lamdan, NATAN nurse deployed at NATAN clinic at the refugee center in Przemysl, Poland)
5-MAY-2022 - Przemysl, Poland: NATAN Social Worker Iris Nusenkis sending off two sisters who escaped the war in Ukraine, now enroute to safe haven in Denmark.
Update: May 5th
The two sisters had been staying at a local nursing home until a transportation solution could be found. Through NATAN’s intervention, a benefactor donated the funds for an ambulance with crew and driver to transport them. Thanks to this benefactor, safe transportation to Denmark was finally possible. This morning the Danish ambulance team arrived to pick up the two sisters from the nursing home. The ambulance driver insisted on giving the sisters some money so they wouldn’t start the journey in Denmark empty-handed. On their way they also stopped at another border post to pick up a Ukrainian soldier wounded during the war.
This brought to an end a collective effort of three NATAN teams. The Social Workers responsible were: Katia Vainer (Team 4) , Natasha Lamdan (Team 5) and Iris Nusenkis (Team 6). This is an example of the continuity made possible by NATAN’s model of teamwork, communications and overlap training.