HEALTH CARE Local ER joins with nonpro t to send medical supplies to Ukraine
2022 HEALTH CARE EDITION
GAP BRIDGING THE
Dr. Austin Potter works with the Polish nonpro t Od Granicy Do Mieszkania to gather medical supply needs from Ukrainian hospitals and the military. The group works to procure supplies through donations and partnerships.
BY LAUREN CANTERBERRY
Fundacja Od Granicy Do Mieszkania, or OGDM, which translates to “from the border to the at,” Potter said. The organization works to help Ukrainian refugees nd transporta- tion from the Polish border, gather necessary personal documents and secure short- or long-term housing. “Instead of worrying about shelter, transportation and food, … they don’t have to worry about these essentials as much,” Potter said. “[OGDM] also linked together volunteers and [has] reliable supply lines into the country where we don’t have to worry about any sort of corruption or people selling supplies.” OGDM has been
In April, New Braunfels-based Lonestar 24 Hour Emergency Room partnered with Dr. Austin Potter and a nonpro t organization based in Poland to deliver approximately 100 pounds of life-saving medical equipment and supplies to Ukraine. Dr. Gerardo Ortiz, medical director for Lonestar, said that the ER donated intubation equipment, central line kits, coagulating agent, antibiotics, gauze and more after hearing Potter speak at a local conference. “I understand that not every physician or nurse or person can go there and be
OGDM WORKS TO:
MOST NEEDED ITEMS:
• Acquire lists of medical supply needs • Work with partners to ll these gaps as e ciently as possible • Remove burden to hospital systems in Ukraine and surrounding areas by utilizing U.S.-based hospital systems Supplies are distributed to di erent locations based on immediate need.
Bandages Decompression needles
Surgical equipment Gauze Tourniquets
Antibiotics Intubation equipment
Many organizations are working to support relief e orts in and around Ukraine.
GET INVOLVED
Here are a few:
SOURCES: DR. AUSTIN POTTER, OGDM COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER OGDM www.ogdm.org Team Rubicon www.teamrubiconusa.org World Vision www.worldvision.org
in the front lines, but certainly, you know, hospitals and freestanding ERs, we’re really good about stocking up our supplies,” Ortiz said. “We focused on the trauma, mass-casualty sort of equipment and then found what we had duplicates of and started with that.” In March, Potter,
working to supply hospitals and the Ukrainian army with vital medical supplies that are di cult to source locally, Potter said. The recent donations made by Lonestar and Complete Care, which operates standalone emergency rooms throughout Texas, have helped OGDM provide supplies to children’s hospitals
“IT JUST SEEMS LIKE THE RIGHT THING TO DO, AND HOW THERE CAN BE ANY DOWNSIDE TO IT, I DON’T SEE IT. I WOULD HOPE THAT POLITICS ASIDE, PEOPLE CAN REALIZE THE HUMANITARIAN CRISIS THAT THIS IS.”
other basic medical supplies,” Potter said. “Those get used up extremely quickly, and basically there’s [at] this point almost an unlimited need for the supplies.” After establishing OGDM as a 501(c) nonpro t organization in the U.S., the group will work to create a network of health care facilities and other partners to quickly ll requests for supplies made by the Ukrainian army and hospitals, Potter said. “There’s still a constant out ow of refugees; there’s a constant need for medical supplies in the country; and
unfortunately, it doesn’t look like it’s going to end [at] any point soon,” Potter said. Ortiz said Lonestar plans to continue donating supplies to relief e orts in Ukraine, and his team is preparing to send another shipment of equipment to Potter and the OGDM team soon. “It just seems like the right thing to do, and how there can be any downside to it, I don’t see it,” Ortiz said. “I would hope that politics aside, people can realize the human- itarian crisis that this is.”
DR. GERARDO ORTIZ, MEDICAL DIRECTOR FOR LONESTAR 24 HOUR EMERGENCY ROOM
who is an emer- gency physician in Austin, traveled to Poland to assist with providing refugees with medical care in Warsaw. There he connected with a Pol- ish nonpro t organization called
and the Ukrainian army. “The goal is [for] every soldier on the ground to have a medical kit that includes two tourniquets and quick clotting agents as well as some
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NEW BRAUNFELS EDITION • JUNE 2022
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