GlobalMedic Ukraine Conflict Response

The war in Ukraine continues to have a massive impact on Ukrainian families. As violent attacks continue, Ukrainians across the nation are fleeing to neighbouring countries in search of safety and support. An estimated 7.4 million people have fled Ukraine into countries such as Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Moldova and at the peak,  more than 8 million Ukrainians were internally displaced. 7.1 million people remain internally displaced in the country. GlobalMedic is continuing to respond, providing urgently needed aid in Ukraine and the surrounding countries.

GlobalMedic and local partners initially together to distribute meal packs to Ukrainian refugees arriving at Chisinau train station, as many refugees were arriving or passing through every day. To date, 4,805 meal packs have been distributed at the station and 7,908 hot breakfasts, hot lunches, and lunch packs have been distributed at temporary shelters. GlobalMedic's RRT has also provided much needed assistance through the distribution of aid, such as bottled water, baby formula, sanitizer and hygiene products to hospitals, churches and refugee centres in Moldova.

The RRT has also established a food kit program where Moldovan locals have been assembling kits containing locally procured, culturally appropriate staple foods, including rice, beans, pasta, potatoes and cabbage, which are then distributed to Ukrainian refugees and Moldovan host families. GlobalMedic has also established a food kit distribution program with the help of local partners. These food hampers include local staples like potatoes, pasta, cabbage and rice and are then distributed to Ukrainian refugees and Moldovan host families. To date, the RRT team has distributed 2,700 Family Emergency Kits and 48,908 locally packed Emergency Food Kits within the country, and sent an additional 650 food kits across the border into Ukraine.

GlobalMedic’s Rapid Response Team (RRT) is also deployed in Romania. The initial focus of the deployment was addressing the overwhelming need of refugees who crossed the Ukraine-Romania border. The RRT provided much needed items to churches and refugees centers, including mattresses, food and hygiene items, and continues to do so on an as-needed basis. The RRT also coordinated the procurement and distribution of emergency aid to Ukrainian refugees in the country. This included partnering with local organizations to support and facilitate cross-border distributions of food, hygiene items, and household goods like bedding in Chernivtsi.

The RRT also set up a food kit packing and distribution program to support Ukrainian refugees, Ukrainian IDPs, and Romanian host families. These food kits include locally procured, culturally appropriate pantry staples like rice, pasta, meat pâte, beans, and cooking oil. To date, 14,212 of these food kits have been distributed in Ukraine and 559 in Romania. An additional shipment of 1,600 Emergency Food Kits with Aquatabs has been distributed by one of our Romanian partners across the border in Ukraine. 

As weeks passed and Ukrainian refugees departed Romania for other EU countries, or returned to Ukraine, GlobalMedic’s RRT shifted their focus to address the needs of IDPs in Ukraine.  The food kit packing and distribution program currently focuses on packing food kits for distribution across the border in Ukraine with the help of our local partners. 

Immediately following the beginning of the crisis, GlobalMedic and our long-standing local partner began working together to support the country's internally displaced population. Funded by GlobalMedic, a local restaurant in Lviv served free meals to Ukrainians who were arriving in or passing through Lviv, Ukraine. GlobalMedic set up at the train station and provided these free meals to families directly after disembarking the train. GlobalMedic supported a total of 3,825 people through the distribution of these meals. Also, hiring a local restaurant allowed their employees to continue working and get paid during a precarious time. 

We have also established a hot meal program in Odesa, Ukraine with 6,100 hot meals distributed to date. This project again contracts a local restaurant to provide these meals, with a rotating menu to ensure variety in taste and nutrition. Working with partners in Canada and Ukraine, GlobalMedic shipped 20 pallets' worth of medication and medical supplies to Warsaw, Poland which were then transported to Lviv to support a local hospital. We also helped facilitate a shipment of 30 pallets of hygiene supplies from Poland to Lviv. GlobalMedic has partnered with Ukraine Medical Support on several occasions, providing much needed items like medical supplies, stretchers, trauma bags, safety glasses, rechargeable lights and water purification tablets to Ukraine. Furthermore, 10 skids of firegear including helmets, bunker suits, fire boots, and medic bags have also been sent to support local firefighters to deal with emergency situations. 

GlobalMedic also has a central hub in Lutsk where aid is stored and distributed, which allows us to reach the greatest number of Ukrainians across the country.  Much of this aid is packed by dedicated GlobalMedic volunteers in Canada, who have been working to pack things like Emergency Food Kits containing a mixture of culturally appropriate pantry staples. These kits also contain additional essential items like solar lights. Additionally, these kits include water purification solutions in the form of either Aquatabs or P&G Purifier of Water Sachets. These tools ensure that households have access to clean drinking water, as well as the ability to purify water to clean wounds or first aid equipment if required. In addition, we procured 1,800 First Aid Kits to add to some of these kits to provide the basic tools needed to treat minor trauma injuries which many civilians have had to deal with.  To ensure that Ukrainians receiving these kits are able to use them effectively, GlobalMedic partnered with Humber College to film first aid instructional videos in Ukrainian. These videos included demonstrations on how to treat different injuries with the contents of the kits. To date, 29,595 Emergency Food Kits have been packed and flown to Europe where they are being trucked across the border to Lutsk for onward distribution. An additional 12,500 Emergency Food Kits were also packed in Turkey and shipped to Ukraine for distribution.

1,350 Family Emergency Kits have also been packed and distributed within Ukraine. During a crisis situation, clean water and hygiene are crucial to health and wellbeing as they can help prevent deadly water borne illnesses, which can occur when individuals obtain contaminated water when sources are disrupted. These kits are designed to provide families with a holistic solution to deal with this and other problems they face in an emergency, and comprise of a water purification solution, hygiene essentials, and a solar light. 

All donations to this project will continue to go towards providing aid to vulnerable families. Please consider a donation in support of these efforts.