Medical Supplies Stock Ukraine
Hello from Kyiv!
I want to personally say thank you to MedWish Medworks and its entire International Operations team for their continued support and leadership in the Ukraine humanitarian sphere.
Some of you know me as "the other Traveling Colonel" of Colonel Chuck’s Ohio home team of the Traveling Colonels. I am Colonel Monte, a retired veteran of 30 years’ service with the US Marine Corps and currently the director of The Traveling Colonels, a nongovernmental organization of unpaid volunteers helping Ukraine. The Traveling Colonels was co-founded with Colonel Chuck, whom I served with in the Marines.
Our mission is to help with first aid supplies and surgical medical support to underserved hospitals, doctors, and surgeons during this terrible period of war waged on Ukraine. We are not here to win the war or solve all the international issues, but we are here in Ukraine with boots on the ground and skin in the game to simply help save lives with high quality medical support.
I first heard about MedWish Medworks from Colonel Chuck more than 2.5 years ago when he was seeking medical supplies to carry into Ukraine. Now MedWish Medworks is helping The Traveling Colonels with undoubtedly the best medical aid support in Ukraine! Your support is now sent monthly to Ukraine, with Chuck carrying it there in a suitcase. Your help has only increased and has resulted in more support being sent to forward-facing military and community hospitals.
MedWish Medworks has been one of our most significant partners in helping Ukraine. Over the last two+ years we have shipped a 40-foot container filled with hundreds of laparoscopic instruments, surgical mesh, pediatric supplies, and countless other highly specialized surgical instruments and devices. Your support has been nothing less than spectacular and lifesaving! By our estimate, more than 21 tons of hospital surgical aid, first aid supplies, rehabilitation equipment, clothing, hygiene, and medical equipment aid has been provided through MedWish Medworks for Ukraine.
The aid once received in Kyiv is distributed to different regions and to underserved Ukrainian hospitals. It does not sit in our warehouse once we get it to Ukraine. It will go to hospitals we’ve vetted. We know the hospital senior leadership and the hospital specialties, and we personally have met with surgeons at those facilities. We communicate directly with surgeons and hospital administration weekly. We feel we know and trust the hospitals we support and have personal connections with the key individuals.
The hospitals we support with these critical infusions of supplies are Kyiv Regional Pediatric hospital, a Zaporizhzhia Regional Pediatric hospital, the Sumy Region community hospitals in Gluhkov and Putivl, two Kyiv surgical hospitals, Kyiv and Kharkiv Womens’ hospitals, the National Burn Center in Lviv, hospitals in Chernihiv and Kharkiv, and smaller medical facilities at other locations. Many of these medical establishments forward supplies to other medical centers expressing a need for specific items. This extends our distribution network.
We maintain a steady flow of aid to the hospitals we support. I often ask if the aid is used, and the Ukrainian doctor answer is typical, simply "yes". When we ask more specifically what was used, it's usually a shrug and a, "We used everything, everything is needed. Thank you!"
Times are hard here in Ukraine, and the aid you provided will continue to be sent to hospitals and doctors who can use the aid to ease suffering and save lives across Ukraine. You should know your work and support has saved lives and has changed families for generations to come.
Please accept my personal thanks and sincere appreciation for all the help and personal attention you have given Colonel Chuck and our team for the past 2.5 years.
Respectfully,
Colonel Monte E. Dunard
Director of The Traveling Colonels, Kyiv Ukraine
Colonel Dunard is a veteran of Iraq and was a commercial airline pilot for American Airlines for 34 years. He holds a Masters in National Security from the US Army War College and B.S. in Agriculture from the University of Missouri. He is a retired volunteer actively helping Ukraine for the past 3.5 years.
