Senior shift paramedic of the Odesa City Council Regional Center for Emergency Medical Aid and Disaster Medicine in Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi
When the explosions rocked Serhiivka, Ihor, a paramedic from the local substation, called me. He said it was horrific: fire, smoke, the injured, the dead. I estimated that we would admit at least twenty people and began the preparations. We ended up accepting forty victims.
Traumatology, surgery, intensive care, laboratory - wake the whole hospital." I ran around the hospital, knocked on the doors of all the departments, and said: "Get ready, brace yourself; there will be many wounded." I gathered all the nurses and prepared the stretchers. We needed to buy time.
When the operating room is open, when everyone is mentally ready, these 10-15-20 minutes are precious for the injured person. These are the minutes in which you can save a person. These are the minutes in which you can lose them, too. And we all fought desperately for each patient.
Ambulances arrived one after another. Howling sirens in the city, unconscious children inside, a sea of blood in every vehicle. I cannot find the words to describe it. I saw tears in the eyes of the medics, but all of us held it together. We knew we had to. Paramedics put on six gloves at a time to remove them after each patient fast. Women paramedics did not even notice that their gowns were completely blood-soaked. I brought bandages and painkillers, approached the paramedics and asked what they needed.
In addition to providing medical care, timely information and coordination play a significant role in our profession. And we managed to buy time. That night, after the explosions in Serhiivka, we won that race against time. Everything was ready; everyone was prepared.
I had seen much and dealt with different situations: big and small. I worked in a cardiological ambulance crew when there were road accidents and fires, but this... When they ask me what it was like, I say: "The war affected us, too..."
