Vice President of Worldwide Cooperation and Packages on the Canadian Purple Cross, Kelsey Lemon visited areas of Ukraine impacted by the battle in late 2023. Throughout her go to, she witnessed the consequences the battle continues to have on people, households, and infrastructure throughout Ukraine.
Kelsey has been part of the Canadian Purple Cross for eight years. She has seen first-hand the work of the Purple Cross Purple Crescent Motion in response to humanitarian crises in a number of nations, together with Ethiopia, Bangladesh, South Sudan, Syria, and Ukraine. Her position focuses on strengthening relationships with worldwide companions and main capacity-strengthening packages to make sure Purple Cross packages and responses attain those that want it most.
The essential work of the Canadian Purple Cross below Kelsey’s management in Ukraine and surrounding nations highlights the collaborative efforts to offer reduction, help, and help to individuals affected by the battle.
In November 2023, Kelsey hung out within the Cherkasy and Poltava Oblasts, the place the Canadian Purple Cross is enabling accessible healthcare in distant areas with restricted healthcare capability.
Kelsey expressed how vital Canadian Purple Cross-supported providers are in filling a spot in healthcare providers. Particularly in distant areas the place there’s a scarcity of healthcare professionals, older individuals and folks residing with power sicknesses or disabilities. The Cellular Well being Unit providers are important to serving to many of those people meet their fundamental healthcare wants.
“Many of the younger, able-bodied individuals have left and so it was older individuals, individuals residing with disabilities and folks with compounding sicknesses who actually wanted the Cellular Well being Unit service,” explains Kelsey.
The Cellular Well being Models, operated by the Ukrainian Purple Cross Society and funded by the Canadian Purple Cross, present major healthcare providers within the oblasts of Cherkasy and Poltava.
As of December 31, 2023, the Canadian Purple Cross has helped recruit 72 social helpers who’ve been offering home-based care to 772 individuals, together with older adults and folks residing with power sicknesses or disabilities within the Cherkasy and Poltava Oblasts. This consists of assist with private hygiene, help with remedy, and help with different fundamental wants.
Kelsey emphasizes how essential these providers are to enhance individuals’s residing situations and serve to maintain their dignity of their residence as they’re cared for in a accountable manner.
Within the oblast of Cherkasy, Kelsey attended the opening of two refurbished services that have been restored in partnership with the Ukrainian Purple Cross Society. Two buildings have been renovated into single household residences, offering a much-needed long run resolution to people and households at the moment staying in collective centres.
The aim of collective centres is to offer momentary lodging and different important providers to individuals who have been displaced by the battle.
The refurbished services embrace models with a personal toilet and a closed bed room. Kelsey remembers a household of 4 shifting into one of many models. They have been beforehand staying in a collective centre for 18 months.
“They have been so thrilled, in tears of pleasure and happiness with their new place,” says Kelsey.
In complete, 38 collective centres have obtained funding and experience to enhance the residing situations of people that have been internally displaced to the Cherkasy, Poltava, and Vinnytsia Oblasts.
Mayor of Cherkasy Oblast, Anatoliy Bondarenko additionally attended the opening of the centre. He expressed his appreciation for the devoted efforts of the Canadian Purple Cross over the previous two years.
The Canadian Purple Cross has offered help and funding in Ukraine and surrounding nations since 2021 and can proceed offering major healthcare and humanitarian help.
